Influence

Drop a pebble in the water
And its ripples reach out far;
And the sunbeams dancing on them
May reflect them to a star.


Give a smile to some one passing,
Thereby make his morning glad;
It may greet you in the evening
When your own heart may be sad.

Do a deed of simple kindness
Though its end you may not see.
It may reach like widening ripples
Down a long eternity.

Joseph Morris
songs of the nightingale