The Letters I Have Not Sent

I have written them, keen, and sarcastic, and long,
With righteously wrathful intent,
Not a stroke undeserved nor a censure too strong;
And some, alas! some of them went!
I have written them, challenging, eager to fight,
All hot with a merited ire;
And some of them chanced to be kept overnight,
And mailed, the next day—in the fire!
Ah, blessed the letters that happily go
On errands of kindliness bent;
But much of my peace and my fortune I owe
To the letters I never have sent.