'Tis well with words, oh masters, ye have sought, <br />To turn men's eyes yearning to the great and true, <br />Yet first take heed to what your own hands do; <br />By deeds not words the souls of men are taught; <br />Good lives alone are fruitful; they are caught <br />Into the fountain of all life (wherethrough <br />Men's souls that drink are broken or made new) <br />Like drops of heavenly elixir, fraught <br />With the clear essence of eternal youth. <br />Even one little deed of weak untruth <br />Is like a drop of quenchless venom cast, <br />A liquid thread, into life's feeding stream, <br />Woven forever with its crystal gleam, <br />Bearing the seed of death and woe at last.<br /><br />Archibald Lampman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/deeds-4/
