kindness

I don't know where this cross stitch sampler came from, only that it sits on one of my bookshelves and caught my eye this evening when I came in from the garden, having spent a couple of hours after work cutting back and weeding in the border while D made our tea.

Apparently the poem was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and ends with the lines "
Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words, and Kind deeds.”
I read a little about the life of Longfellow and how he never really recovered from the loss of his second wife, Frances, who died the day after her dress caught fire and she was badly burned. Longfellow also suffered burns to his hands and face when he tried to extinguish the flames.