Pity the sorrow of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have brought him to your door.

Pity the sorrow of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have brought him to your door.

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.

In misery's darkest caverns known,
His useful care was ever nigh,
Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan,
read more

In misery's darkest caverns known,
His useful care was ever nigh,
Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan,
And lonely want retir'd to die.

A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he read more

A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad
When he put on his clothes.

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand doeth:
That thine read more

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand doeth:
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in
secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.

It never was our guise
To slight the poor, or aught humane despise.

It never was our guise
To slight the poor, or aught humane despise.

Scatter plenty o'er a smiling land.

Scatter plenty o'er a smiling land.

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this
virtue.

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this
virtue.