Or, if impelled to interfere,
  Exhort, uplift, advise,
Lend not a base, betraying ear
  To all the victim's cries.


Only the Lord can understand
  When those first pangs begin,
How much is reflex action and
  How much is really sin.


E'en from good words thyself refrain,
  And tremblingly admit
There is no anodyne for pain
  Except the shock of it.


So, when thine own dark hour shall fall,
  Unchallenged canst thou say :
'I never worried you at all,
  For God's sake go away!'