A traveller on a dusty road <br />Strewed acorns on the lea; <br />And one took root and sprouted up, <br />And grew into a tree. <br />Love sought its shade at evening-time, <br />To breathe its early vows; <br />And Age was pleased, in heats of noon, <br />To bask beneath its boughs. <br />The dormouse loved its dangling twigs, <br />The birds sweet music bore-- <br />It stood a glory in its place, <br />A blessing evermore. <br /> <br />A little spring had lost its way <br />Amid the grass and fern; <br />A passing stranger scooped a well <br />Where weary men might turn; <br />He walled it in, and hung with care <br />A ladle at the brink; <br />He thought not of the deed he did, <br />But judged that Toil might drink. <br />He passed again; and lo! the well, <br />By summer never dried, <br />Had cooled ten thousand parched tongues. <br />And saved a life beside. <br /> <br />A dreamer dropped a random thought; <br />'Twas old, and yet 'twas new; <br />A simple fancy of the brain, <br />But strong in being true. <br />It shone upon a genial mind, <br />And, lo! its light became <br />A lamp of life, a beacon ray, <br />A monitory flame: <br />The thought was small; its issue great; <br />A watch-fire on the hill, <br />It sheds its radiance far adown, <br />And cheers the valley still. <br /> <br />A nameless man, amid the crowd <br />That thronged the daily mart, <br />Let fall a word of hope and love, <br />Unstudied from the heart,-- <br />It raised a brother from the dust, <br />It saved a soul from death. <br />O germ! O fount! O word of love! <br />O thought at random cast! <br />Ye were but little at the first, <br />But mighty at the last.<br /><br />Charles Mackay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/little-and-great/
