It Takes Two of a Kind

By Gerald Cowan

If all of the gossipy tongues could be stopped,
I doubt they would ever be missed.
Of all the most unwelcome things in the world,
The gossipy tongue tops the list.

A gossip can take the most harmless event
And, if he is evil at heart,
He can clothe it with many imagined details,
With rumors that linger and smart.

He may season his story with envy and spite,
Then whisper, “They say” or “I’ve heard,”
And tell you in most sanctimonious tones
The tale he’s distorted and blurred.

A life is dishonored, stained, and destroyed
By rumors with no shred of truth
Which one person dreams in a feverish brain
And another accepts – without proof.

Now the gossipy tongue can never succeed
In causing such heartache and tears
Unless it is helped by the misguided soul
Who possesses the gossipy ears.

For the acid that drips from the gossipy lips
Would tarnish the purest of gold.
But its power depends on the gossipy ears
Which believe and repeat what they’re told.

“Have you heard?” and “They say,” which go floating about
Spreading envy, injustice, and fears
Would lose all their force were they quickly shut out
By the one with the gossipy ears.

So whenever someone with a gossipy tongue
Tells his stories of evil and strife,
And says, “Have you heard?” look him straight in the eye
And say, “Just what is your mission in life?”

Don’t give him a chance to tell and retell
The false empty rumors he hears.
He ought to be locked in a small narrow room
With someone who has gossipy ears.
                               
- Gerald Cowan, a longtime preacher and missionary, is retired from full-time pulpit preaching. Gerald publishes an e-mail newsletter entitled GERALD COWAN’S PERSONAL PERIODICAL WRITINGS. He is available for Gospel Meetings and he may be contacted at Geraldcowan1931@aol.com