Benevolence, attended by beauty, <br />By elegance, fashion, and grace, <br />Makes pleasure, the handmaid of duty, <br />To plead for the poor in this place. <br /> <br /> <br />She pleads! while rich music is ringing <br />Through halls gay with splendour and light, <br />Where a voice, like a seraph's, is singing <br />Of Scotland, her wrongs and her might. <br /> <br /> <br />She pleads! while the charm'd ear is listening <br />To eloquent, moving appeals; <br />And the soft eye of Pity is glistening <br />At Misery's sorrowful tales. <br /> <br /> <br />She points to the couch of the dying, <br />Where squalor and poverty reign; <br />Where the widow is toiling and trying <br />Her fatherless babes to sustain; <br /> <br /> <br />To age, with its wants and its ailings, <br />Its weakness, and final decay; <br />Lone woman, her faintings and failings, <br />While tracing life's wilderness way. <br /> <br /> <br />Oh! 'tis where you succour and cherish <br />The aged, the widow, the lone: <br />Their blessing, when ready to perish, <br />Dear ladies, you often have known. <br /> <br /> <br />Heaven crown all your efforts with favour <br />The poor to assist and relieve; <br />It is found in each generous endeavour <br />'More blessed to give than receive.'<br /><br />Janet Hamilton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/verses-7/
