Louisa Sarah Bevington

Not Ye Who Goad

NOT ye who goad, but ye who lead,
My laggard will shall move;
I know no right but equity,
No road to it but love.

Love fits the precept to the need,
Exacts of each its best,
Expects no lilies of the rose,
Howe'er her heart be pressed.

The human whole is many-lived,
Each life so set alone,
That who would win the world to tune
Must love them one by one.

There is a clear truth knowledge-won,
'Tis fitness makes for life;
And equity is fitness felt,
Life-warrant of our strife.

But ere you light on equity,--
O ye of book and rule!
Your hearts must learn the A B C
In sympathy's own school.