Proverbs 18:21

Please, do not destroy, Beloved sisters, brothers dear, Do not count the faults of others' joy, Do not tear their garments here.

Cherish it when trust is given, When a soul its secrets shares with you, And wounds are opened, half-forgiven, Hidden from the aesthetes' view.

Guard this silence as a treasure, As if sacred for the heavens' sake, Without oaths or binding measure, Whoever stands before you, awake.

Then cunning gossip's wicked weaving Will not strangle those who're near, Will not soil them with deceiving, Harm from words excessive, clear…

Then, inflamed by demonic power, The tongue will lose its deadly might, And like a counterweight in that hour, You'll be pulled from death's dark night…

Such Christians are we, I'm confessing, Mired deep in gossip's bog, Practically all—in transgressing, Theoretically—in Light's fog.

And I too am guilty, repenting, My heart asks forgiveness true, For reaching toward Heaven's relenting, We cannot without cleansing new.

Please, do not kill with poison's speech, With words of death that cut so deep, Preserve each other, all within reach, We answer for one another's keep…