IF WE ONLY UNDERSTOOD

COULD we draw aside the curtains

That surround each other’s lives,

See the naked heart and spirit,

Know what spur the action gives.—

Often we would find it better,

Purer than we judge we would:

We would love each other better

 If we only understood.

Could we judge all deeds by motives,

See the good and bad within,

Often we would love the sinner

All the while we loathe the sin.

Could we know the powers working

To o’erthrow integrity,

We would judge each Others errors

With more patient charity.

If we knew the cares and trials,

Knew the efforts all in vain,

And the bitter disappointments—

Understood the loss and gain—

Would the grim external roughness

Seem, I wonder, just the same?

Would we help where now we hinder?

Would we pity where we blame?

Ah. we judge each other harshly,

Knowing not life’s hidden force;

Knowing not the fount of action

Is less turbid at its source.

Seeing not amid the evil

All the golden grains of good,

Oh, we’d love each other better

If we only understood.

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