IF I HAD KNOWN by Margaret E. Sangster

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 24, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 37.

IF I HAD KNOWN.

By Margaret E. Sangster

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.

IF I had known in the morning How wearily all the day The words unkind Would trouble my mind I said when you went away, I had been more careful, darling, Nor given you needless pain, But we vex "our own" With look and tone We might never take back again.

For though in the quiet evening You may give me the kiss of peace, Yet it might be That never for me The pain of the heart should cease. How many go forth in the morning That never come home at night! And hearts have broken And harsh words spoken That sorrow can ne'er set right.

We have careful thoughts for the stranger, And smiles for the sometime guest, But oft for our own The bitter tone, Though we love our own the best. Ah! lips with the curve impatient, Ah! brow with that look of scorn, 'Twere a cruel fate Were the night too late To undo the work of the morn.

—Selected.