I, Pecksniff.

Try as we might not to notice,

there is, all around us,

and too often all too close,

much poverty and squalor;

but this is God's will.

For who would be so impious

as to dispute that all things

happen and persist in obedience

to the one great divine design?

Nothing is accidental:

all is as it should be.

It is surely also God's will

that we should feel gratitude

in our own good fortune,

that we should, indeed, benefit

from the contrast with those downtrodden,

lest we take our blessings for granted,

which would be a sin.

Outrageous as it might first appear,

we should give thanks for the poor,

for their misery and fortitude

and for the extra relish we thus gain

from our own humble pleasures.

Let it suffice that we may serve,

in our modest state of comfort,

as a model to those in want,

as something to which they may aspire,

though the prospect of advancement

be ever so distant and unlikely.

It does not benefit society

for everyone to be miserable,

that we should all be ever occupied

with matters of the gutter.

Acceptance is the key,

acceptance of His supreme wisdom,

of His ways that are as beautiful

as they are mysterious.