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Title: Hold Your Tongue
Author: J. C. Manning [
More Titles by Manning]
SET TO MUSIC AND PUBLISHED.
I've often thought, as through the world I've travelled to and fro,
How many folks about me--above me and below--
Might make this life more happy, if old as well as young
Would bear in mind the maxim which bids them hold their tongue.
Hold your tongue--hold your tongue--you'll ne'er be thought a dunce:
Hold your tongue and think twice before you loose it once:
Hold your tongue--for quiet folks are oft reputed wise:
Hold your tongue, but open wide your ears and your eyes.
How oft we find that words unkind unhappy lives will make;
That loving hearts through idle words will bleed and sometimes break;
What mischief have we scattered all our bosom friends among,
Which might have been avoided had we only held our tongue.
Hold your tongue--hold your tongue: you'll ne'er be thought a dunce:
Hold your tongue and think twice before you loose it once:
Hold your tongue--for quiet folks are oft reputed wise:
Hold your tongue, but open wide your ears and your eyes.
The kindly deeds men do in life their own reward will bring;
But where they come with trumpet-words, their sweetness bears a sting:
The silent giver 's most beloved right-thinking folks among;
So when you do a kindly thing, be sure you hold your tongue.
Hold your tongue--hold your tongue: you'll ne'er be thought a dunce:
Hold your tongue and think twice before you loose it once:
Hold your tongue--for quiet folks are oft reputed wise:
Hold your tongue, but open wide your ears and your eyes.
Yes: hold your tongue, except in life when days of sorrow come;
Then speak to raise a drooping heart, or cheer a darksome home.
If none of these--let silence be the burden of your song:
He holds his own, nor hurts his friend, who learns to hold his tongue.
Hold your tongue--hold your tongue; you'll ne'er be thought a dunce:
Hold your tongue and think twice before you loose it once:
Hold your tongue--for quiet folks are oft reputed wise:
Hold your tongue, but open wide your ears and your eyes.
[The end]
J. C. Manning's poem: Hold Your Tongue
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