Anger in its time and place <br />May assume a kind of grace. <br />It must have some reason in it, <br />And not last beyond a minute. <br />If to further lengths it go, <br />It does into malice grow. <br />'Tis the difference that we see <br />'Twixt the serpent and the bee. <br />If the latter you provoke, <br />It inflicts a hasty stroke, <br />Puts you to some little pain, <br />But it never stings again. <br />Close in tufted bush or brake <br />Lurks the poison-swellëd snake <br />Nursing up his cherished wrath; <br />In the purlieux of his path, <br />In the cold, or in the warm, <br />Mean him good, or mean him harm, <br />Whensoever fate may bring you, <br />The vile snake will always sting you.<br /><br />Charles Lamb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/anger-182/
