Words

Read the poem in your book on pages 221-222. Its big idea: words alone cannot satisfy the heart; a few true words mean more than many empty ones.

Stanza by stanza:

• if words could satisfy the heart, it would have fewer cares; but words, like summer birds, fly away and leave only empty air;
• the heart, a pilgrim upon earth, often finds words as worthless as weeds just when it needs them.

Few and true. 'A little said, and truly said' gives deeper joy than hosts (crowds) of words that reach the head but never touch the heart. The voice that cheers a lonely home has 'the fewest words to say': But, oh! those few, how dear!

Show without fruit. If words could satisfy, the world might hold a feast; but when tested, they satisfy least, like plants that make a gaudy show, all blossom and no fruit.

Words from the poem's grid: satisfy, depart, weeds, worth, blossom, feast.