The Words I Did Not Say

I'm a fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables).  I like this poem that was posted somewhere today:

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Ps. 25:11

The Words I Did Not Say
Many a word my tongue has uttered
Has brought me sorrow at eventide,
And I have grieved with a grieving bitter
Over speech of anger and scorn and pride,
But never a word in my heart remembered
As I sit with myself at the close of day,
Has pierced with repentance more unavailing
Than have the words I did not say.

The word of cheer that I might have whispered
To a heart that was breaking with weight of woe,
The word of hope that I might have given
To one whose courage was ebbing low,
The word of warning I should have spoken
In the ear of one who walked astray.
Oh, how they come with a sad rebuking
Those helpful words that I did not say;

So many and sweet: If I had but said them
How glad my heart then would have been;
What a dew of blessing would fall upon it
As the day’s remembrances gather in;
But I said them not and the chance forever
Is gone with the moments of yesterday,
And I sit alone with a spirit burdened
By all the words that I did not say.

The morrow will come with its new beginning,
Glad and grand, through the morning’s gates –
Shall I not then with this thought beside me
Go bravely forth to the work that waits?
Giving a message of cheer and kindness
To all I meet on the world’s highway,
So that I never will grieve at twilight
Over the words that I did not say.

Source: The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery