Kindness

From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 6, 1915. By John Boyle O’Reilly.

“What is the real good?”
    I asked in a musing mood.
Order, said the law court;
    Knowledge, said the school;
Truth, said the wise man;
    Pleasure, said the fool;
Love, said the maiden;
    Beauty, said the page;
Freedom, said the dreamer;
    Home, said the sage;
Fame, said the soldier;
    Equity, the seer.
Spake my heart full sadly,
    “The answer is not here.”
Then within my bosom
    Softly this I heard:
“Each heart holds the secret—
    Kindness is the word.”