A tongue can accuse or carry bad news;
The seeds of distrust it will sow
So unless you have made no mistakes in your life,
Be careful of stones that you throw
A neighbor was passing my garden one time;
She smiled and I knew right away
That it was gossip not flowers that she had on her mind,
And this is what I heard my neighbor say:

"That bad girl down the street, she should be run from our midst
She drinks and she talks quite a lot
She knows not to speak to my child nor to me"
My neighbor then smiled, and I thought

A tongue can accuse or carry bad news;
The seeds of distrust it will sow
So unless you have made no mistakes in your life,
Be careful of stones that you throw

The car speeded by, the screaming of brakes
A sound that made my blood chill,
For my neighbor's one child had been pulled from the path
And saved by a girl lying still

Her child was unhurt and my neighbor cried out,
"Oh, who is that brave girl so sweet?"
I covered the crushed, broken body and said,
"That bad girl down the street"

A tongue can accuse or carry bad news;
The seeds of distrust it will sow
So unless you have made no mistakes in your life,
Be careful of stones that you throw