The daily papers and newscasts
make us painfully aware
of the pathos of life
on this planet.
They tell
of the little child
burned in a tenement fire,
of the elderly woman
mugged and killed
on her afternoon stroll,
of the young man
killed in a freak parkway accident.
Surely it falls
within the range of our call
to bring some relief
to this suffering.
It devolves on us
to make man's sojourn
on earth
a little less sad.