If you sit down at set of sun And count the acts that you have done, And, counting, find One self-denying deed, one word That eased the heart of him who heard -- One glance most kind, That fell like sunshine where it went -- Then you may count that day well spent. But, if, through all the livelong day, You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay -- If, through it all You've nothing done that you can trace That brought the sunshine to one face -- No act most small That helped some soul and nothing cost -- Then count that day as worse than lost. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CUMNOR HALL by WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE FIRELIGHT by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON SONNET: 12 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE IDYLLS OF THE KING: BALIN AND BALAN by ALFRED TENNYSON TO A CHILD by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |