quote · Legacy record
Gently I took that which ungently came, And without scorn forgave:—Do thou the same. A wrong done to thee think a cat’s eye spark, Thou wouldest not see, were not thine own heart dark. Thine own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin, Fear that—the spark self-kindled from within, Which blown upon will blind thee with its glare, Or smother’d stifle thee with noisome air. Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds, And soon the ventilated spirit finds Its natural daylight. If a foe have kenn’d, Or worse than foe, an alienated friend, A rib of dry rot in thy ship’s stout side, Think it God’s message, and in humble pride With heart of oak replace it;—thine the gains— Give him the rotten timber for his pains!
Gently I took that which ungently came, And without scorn forgave:—Do thou the same. A wrong done to thee think a cat’s eye spark, Thou wouldest not see, were not thine own heart dark. Thine own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin, Fear that—the spark self-kindled from within, Which blown upon will blind thee with its glare, Or smother’d stifle thee with noisome air. Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds, And soon the ventilated spirit finds Its natural daylight. If a foe have kenn’d, Or worse than foe, an alienated friend, A rib of dry rot in thy ship’s stout side, Think it God’s message, and in humble pride With heart of oak replace it;—thine the gains— Give him the rotten timber for his pains!
Approximate author period: c. 1803 AD · industrial
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1803 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1772–1834)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 247 · printed citation: Coleridge · subject: GENTLENESS
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