The Home Circle | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 19, 1883

The Home Circle.

'Twas but a word, a careless word— As thistle-down it seemed as light; It paused a moment on the air, And onward then it winged its flight.

Another lip caught up the word, And breathed it with a haughty sneer; It gathered weight as on it sped, That careless word, in its career.

Then rumor caught the flying word, And busy gossip gave it weight, Until that little word became A vehicle of angry hate.

And then that word was winged with fire; Its mission was a thing of pain; For soon it fell like lava-drops Upon a wildly tortured brain.

And then another page of life With burning, scalding tears was blurred; A load of care was heavier made, Its added weight, a careless word.

How wildly throbbed that aching heart! Deep agony its fountain stirred; It calmed, but bitter ashes mark The pathway of that careless word.

—Selected.