Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume II. Love. 1904. | | | | III. Love’s Beginnings | | Thoughts on the Commandments | | George Augustus Baker (1849–1906) |
| | | “LOVE your neighbor as yourself,”— | |
| So the parson preaches: | |
| That ’s one half the Decalogue,— | |
| So the prayer-book teaches. | |
| Half my duty I can do | 5 |
| With but little labor, | |
| For with all my heart and soul | |
| I do love my neighbor. | |
| |
| Mighty little credit, that, | |
| To my self-denial; | 10 |
| Not to love her, though, might be | |
| Something of a trial. | |
| Why, the rosy light, that peeps | |
| Through the glass above her, | |
| Lingers round her lips,—you see | 15 |
| E’en the sunbeams love her. | |
| |
| So to make my merit more, | |
| I ’ll go beyond the letter:— | |
| Love my neighbor as myself? | |
| Yes, and ten times better. | 20 |
| For she ’s sweeter than the breath | |
| Of the Spring, that passes | |
| Through the fragrant, budding woods, | |
| O’er the meadow-grasses. | |
| |
| And I ’ve preached the word I know, | 25 |
| For it was my duty | |
| To convert the stubborn heart | |
| Of the little beauty. | |
| Once again success has crowned | |
| Missionary labor, | 30 |
| For her sweet eyes own that she | |
| Also loves her neighbor. | | | | |
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