You Never Can Tell by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

You never can tell when you send a word
   Like an arrow shot from a bow
By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind
    Just where it may chance to go.
It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend,
    Tipped with its poison or balm,
To a stranger’s heart in life’s great mart
     It may carry its pain or its calm

You never can tell when you do an act
     Just what the result will be
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
     Though the harvest you may not see
Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
     In God’s productive soil;
You may not know, but the tree shall grow
     With shelter for those who toil.

You never can tell what your thoughts will do
     In bringing you hate or love,
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
     Are swifter than carrier doves.
They follow the law of the universe-
      Each thing must create its kind,
And they speed o’er the track to bring you back
      Whatever went out from your mind.