Although I speak with eloquence
Like that of toastmasters and politicians,
And have not compassion,
I am only a sound station.
Although I can see visions
And have the competence
To realise impossible missions,
And although I have every confidence
To remain above others
And have not humanity,
I am pathetically empty.
Although I have the faculty
To clinch every opportunity
And have not generosity,
I am a vain entity.
Although I have the affluence
To ride through this turbulence
And have not benevolence,
I have no influence.
And although I subscribe to philanthropy
And have not the true motivation of charity,
I have not understood true profitability.
"Charity suffers long, and is kind; charity envies not; charity vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
The poem above is reproduced from the author's 2002 Diary for Today's Men and Women: Reflections of Life.