Look into your hearts, O men,
And count the good things
You ever thought for your fellow beings.
See for yourselves the harm
You have wrought for
Your brother in need.
Why are your hearts not melted
By anything you perceive
Around your own selves?
Why do you stay like
Mere gargoyles that never
Had a heart or a mouth?
A heart that was concerned
About someone else
And a mouth that opened
For justice’s sake.
Here, says Wisdom, “Open, O men
Your eyes to see your brother,
A heart to take in feelings of sympathy
And your mouths for yours and your brother’s justice.”
Prudence will tell you must
Befit Wisdom’s advice.
Let the wisest among you
Do so for goodness sake.