Confession by Eugene B. Kuntz

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 3, 1908

Confession

By Eugene B. Kuntz

God told some one to soothe an aching heart, To wipe somebody’s tear of bitter pain, To heal a gaping wound with love’s restoring art, To sing to weary ones a sweet refrain; But, lo, the heart has not been soothed, The tears have not been wiped away, The wrinkle of pain has not been smoothed, And no one’s sung that cheering lay.

God sent some one to give a beggar bread, To put new garments on the destitute, To watch with those who weep their precious dead, To visit shut-ins in their solitude; But O! the beggar goes an-hungered yet, The destitute are still unclothed, unshod, And mourners weep alone in sore regret, And sick ones yearn to rest beneath the sod.

God bade some one; but lo, that one forgot,— Forgot the aching heart, the wretched pain, Forgot the gaping wound, remembered not The singing of the sweet refrain.

God sent some one; but he forgot it, too,— Forgot the beggar and the destitute, Forgot the quaffers of life’s rue, Forgot the sorrow-stricken multitude.

God sent—was’t you or I whom he did send Into the feverish world of deepest care? God told some one—was’t you or I, my friend, Whom God commanded life to share? We need not ask: God sent both you and me To do love’s kindly deed each day, But we forgot: too occupied were we With self, to ease the want and misery.

—Eugene B. Kuntz, in the Westminster.