THE LADDER OF VIRTUE

                       When climbing virtue’s ladder, your first rung
                       Is learning to attend to others’ needs;
                       The second is to care for those among
                       Them by performing charitable deeds
                       Which you do out of sympathy,
                       A fellow-feeling vibrant in your heart
                       That graduates in time to empathy,
                       Which signifies you are no more apart
                       But one, now sharing an identity.

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