BAD THOUGHTS.
IF a bird should alight on your head
In a merry and frolicsome way,
You would not be to blame for the trouble she made,
If you did not invite her to stay.
If a thought from the tempter should come,
And touch for a moment the mind,
It might not be wrong, if you gave it no home,
But drove it away on the wind.
If a bird should alight on your crown,
And you should welcome it there,
You would be to blame if you let her sit down
And make her a nest in your hair.
If a troublesome thought come along,
Returning again and again,
It will be very wrong if you sing it a song,
And ask it to lodge in your brain.
Then drive away every bad thought,
In your mind never let it have rest;
Or let it be caught, and plainly be taught
That it can't have your head for a nest.
Maxwell.