IS IT WORTH WHILE? by Joaquin Miller

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 21, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 16.

IS IT WORTH WHILE?

By Joaquin Miller

Is it worth while that we jostle a brother Bearing his load on the rough road of life? Is it worth while that we jeer at each other In blackness of heart—that we war to the knife? God pity us all in our pitiful strife!

God pity us all as we jostle each other! God pardon us all for the triumphs we feel When a fellow goes down ’neath his load on the heather, Pierced to the heart! Words are keener than steel And mightier far for wo or for weal.

Were it not well in this brief little journey On over the isthmus, down into the tide, We give him a fish instead of a serpent, Ere folding the hands, to be and abide Forever and aye in dust at his side?

Look at the roses saluting each other, Look at the herds all at peace on the plain; Man, and man only, makes war on his brother, And laughs in his heart at his peril and pain, Shamed by the beasts that go down on the plain.

Is it worth while that we battle to humble Some poor fellow soldier down into the dust? God pity us all! Time eftsoon will tumble All of us together, like leaves in a gust, Humbled indeed down into the dust.

—Joaquin Miller.