“If You Only Knew”

If you only knew, if you only knew,

The good that a tender word may do,

You would speak it, and, like a glad, sweet song

It might live in some heart the whole day long—

If you only knew, if you only knew.

 

There are so many who scoff and jeer,

There are so many who scorn and sneer,

So many who hurt, so many who laugh,

Who hold for us bitterest cups to quaff,

You would say the kind word—if you only knew.

 

If you only knew, if you only knew,

The good that a pure, sweet love will do,

You would stoop, with arms as white as snow.

And lift some soul from the depths below—

Alas, alas! If you only knew!

 

“If You Only Knew” printed in The Seattle Times on September 1, 1900, in Higginson’s literary column “Clover Leaves.” Clipping courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham Washington.

 

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