From ‘Poems of Dawn’ 1912 

If We Only Understood 

Could we draw aside the curtains 

That surround each others lives, 

See the naked heart and spirit, 

Know what spur the action gives 

Often we would find it better, 

Purer than we judge we would; 

We would love each other better 

If we only understood. 

Could we judge all deeds by motives, 

See the good and bad within, 

Often we would love the sinner 

All the while we loathe the sin. 

Could we know the powers working 

To overthrow integrity, 

We would judge each others errors 

With more patient charity. 

If we knew the cares and trials, 

Knew the efforts all in vain, 

And the bitter disappointments 

Understood the loss and gain 

Would the grim external roughness 

Seem, I wonder, just the same? 

Would we help where we now hinder? 

Would we pity where we blame? 

Ah, we judge each other harshly, 

Knowing not life’s hidden force, 

Knowing not the fount of action 

Is less turbid at its source. 

Seeing not amid the evil 

All the golden grains of good, 

Oh, we’d love each other better 

If we only understood. 

Charles T. Russell, From 20 Poems of Dawn 1912