Month: November 2010

All for the Best

By Edgar A. Guest

Things mostly happen for the best.

However hard it seems to-day,

When some fond plan has gone astray

Or, what you’ve wished for most is lost

An’ you sit countin’ up the cost

With eyes half-blind by tears o’grief

While doubt is chokin’ out belief,

You’ll find when all is understood

That what seemed bad was really good.

Life can’t be counted in a day.

The present rain that will not stop

Next autumn means a bumper crop.

We wonder why some things must be-

Care’s purpose we can seldom see-

An’ yet long afterwards we turn

To view the past, an’ then we learn

That what once filled our minds with doubt

Was good for us as it worked out.

I’ve never know an hour of care

But that I’ve later come to see

That it has brought some joy to me.

Even the sorrows I have borne,

Leavin’ me lonely an’ forlorn

An’ hurt an’ bruised an’ sick at heart,

An’ though I could not understand

Why I should bow to Death’s command,

That it was really better so.

Things mostly happen for the best.

So narrow is our vision here

That we are blinded by a tear

An’ stunned by every hurt an’ blow

Which comes to-day to strike us low.

An’ yet some day we turn an’ find

That what seemed cruel once was kind.

Most things, I hold, are wisely planned

If we could only understand.

Playing The Game

Unknown

Life is a game with a glorious prize,

If we can only play it right.

It is give and take, build and break,

And often it ends in a fight;

But he surely wins who honestly tries

(Regardless of wealth or fame),

He can never despair who plays it fair

How are you playing the game?

Do you wilt and whine, if you fail to win

In the manner you think your due?

Do you sneer at the man in case that he can

And does, do better than you?

Do you take your rebuffs with a knowing grin?

Do you laugh tho’ you pull up lame?

Does your faith hold true when the whole world’s blue?

How are you playing the game?

Get into the thick of it – wade in, boys!

Whatever your cherished goal;

Brace up your will till your pulses thrill,

And you dare – to your very soul!

Do something more than make a noise;

Let your purpose leap into flame

As you plunge with a cry, “I shall do or die,”

Then you will be playing the game.

Start Where You Stand

By Berton Braley

Start where you stand and never mind the past,

The past won’t help you in beginning new,

If you have left it all behind at last

Why, that’s enough, you’re done with it, you’re through;

This is another chapter in the book,

This is another race that you have planned,

Don’t give the vanished days a backward look,

Start where you stand.

The world won’t care about your old defeats

If you can start anew and win success;

The future is your time, and time is fleet

And there is much of work and strain and stress;

Forget the buried woes and dead despairs,

Here is a brand-new trial right at hand,

The future is for him who does and dares,

Start where you stand.