{"id":332,"date":"2010-06-20T05:53:58","date_gmt":"2010-06-20T05:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/news\/2010\/06\/20\/poem-by-brother-russell-2\/"},"modified":"2010-06-20T05:53:58","modified_gmt":"2010-06-20T05:53:58","slug":"poem-by-brother-russell-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/poem-by-brother-russell-2\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM BY BROTHER RUSSELL"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From \u2018Poems of Dawn\u2019 1912\u00a0<\/div>\n
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If We Only Understood\u00a0<\/div>\n
Could we draw aside the curtains\u00a0<\/div>\n
That surround each others lives,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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See the naked heart and spirit,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Know what spur the action gives\u00a0<\/div>\n
Often we would find it better,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Purer than we judge we would;\u00a0<\/div>\n
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We would love each other better\u00a0<\/div>\n
If we only understood.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Could we judge all deeds by motives,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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See the good and bad within,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Often we would love the sinner\u00a0<\/div>\n
All the while we loathe the sin.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Could we know the powers working\u00a0<\/div>\n
To overthrow integrity,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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We would judge each others errors\u00a0<\/div>\n
With more patient charity.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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If we knew the cares and trials,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Knew the efforts all in vain,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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And the bitter disappointments\u00a0<\/div>\n
Understood the loss and gain\u00a0<\/div>\n
Would the grim external roughness\u00a0<\/div>\n
Seem, I wonder, just the same?\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Would we help where we now hinder?\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Would we pity where we blame?\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Ah, we judge each other harshly,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Knowing not life’s hidden force,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Knowing not the fount of action\u00a0<\/div>\n
Is less turbid at its source.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Seeing not amid the evil\u00a0<\/div>\n
All the golden grains of good,\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Oh, we’d love each other better\u00a0<\/div>\n
If we only understood.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Charles T. Russell, From 20 Poems of Dawn 1912\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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From \u2018Poems of Dawn\u2019 1912\u00a0 If We Only Understood\u00a0 Could we draw aside the curtains\u00a0 That surround each others lives,\u00a0 See the naked heart and spirit,\u00a0 Know what spur the action gives\u00a0 Often we would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}