Do not attempt with mortal eyes
To outward judge or criticize
Or separate the wheat and tare.
Yet trees are known by what they bear,
And what is borne begins below
The ground where roots deep, winding grow.
So contemplate and mark it well
When bad fruits' source you cannot tell.
Remember that the outgrowth starts
Within the soil of human hearts.
Examine what's begun to grow,
And ask yourself and seek to know -
If bitterness is but a root,
Then what the tree, and what the fruit?
Are the limbs with greed weighed down?
Are insults scattered all around?
A crop of envy does it yield
In flattery's false fruit concealed?
Are such foul fruits beneath it found
And others like it on the ground?
A stubborn bitter root you'll find
Will oft bear produce of this kind.
Now do not seek that tree to fell
Whose roots are grown, embedded well.
But to the Gard'ner entrust them all
Whose ill fruits grow, then ripened,fall.
Nor should you taste their poisoned seed,
Disguised as nourishment you need.
No, let the Gard'ner tend the tree,
Who underneath the soil can see
And make the bitterness that's grown
A heart of flesh from heart of stone.
For so He also did for you
Who loved you first and made you new -
No more by bitterness entwined,
Its root now severed, left behind,
And in its place a vine resides
In which a healthy branch abides.
Do not return ill fruit for ill
But let the Gard'ner work His will.
You cannot till a bitter root,
So just abide and bear His fruit.
