Thoughts on the Commandments

George Augustus Baker (1849–1906)

“LOVE your neighbor as yourself,”—

So the parson preaches:

That ’s one half the Decalogue,—

So the prayer-book teaches.

Half my duty I can do

With but little labor,

For with all my heart and soul

I do love my neighbor.

Mighty little credit, that,

To my self-denial;

Not to love her, though, might be

Something of a trial.

Why, the rosy light, that peeps

Through the glass above her,

Lingers round her lips,—you see

E’en the sunbeams love her.

So to make my merit more,

I ’ll go beyond the letter:—

Love my neighbor as myself?

Yes, and ten times better.

For she ’s sweeter than the breath

Of the Spring, that passes

Through the fragrant, budding woods,

O’er the meadow-grasses.

And I ’ve preached the word I know,

For it was my duty

To convert the stubborn heart

Of the little beauty.

Once again success has crowned

Missionary labor,

For her sweet eyes own that she

Also loves her neighbor.