To Charity Poem by Thomas Odiorne

Oh! why should man, of such exalted feature,
With soul constructed on the moral plan,
Indulge his passions as the fiercest creature,
The bloodiest monster since the world began.

How shocking! what a thirst he has for killing!
Outrageous, fell, revengeful he appears,
His blade still warm, not surfeited with spilling
The blood of thousands for six thousand years!

Spirit of Love! O come; best joys revealing,
That heaven bestows upon the human mind,
And, by thy quick'ning power, elicit feeling,
And renovate the temper of mankind!

Teach us the love of kindness to each other,
To aid the suff'rer, though we aid the foe;
And, looking on each neighbour as a brother,
Lessen the quantity of human wo.

Fair as the morn at her divine oblation,
When in her comeliest aspect she appears;
O! spread thy sacred reign o'er every nation,
And bring the triumph of the golden years!