"Selfishness" by Harold Cornelius Sandall

As Erich Fromm once wrote, "Selfish persons are incapable of loving others, but they are not capable of loving themselves either." My mother often said, "All you have is what you give away." I dedicate the poem below to the memory of my mother Evelyn M. Gilmer (1923-2016). It was one of her favorite poems.


SELFISHNESS
by Harold Cornelius Sandall

Love that is hoarded, moulds at last
   Until we know some day
The only thing we ever have
   Is what we give away.

And kindness that is never used
   But hidden all alone
Will slowly harden till it is
   As hard as any stone.

It is the things we always hold
   That we will lose some day;
The only things we ever keep
   Are what we give away.


Source: Lines to Live By (1972), edited by Clinton T. Howell

Chrysanthemum: An Anthology

Poetry