As I Go On My Way
My life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done
Leave countless marks for good or ill ere¹ sets this evening sun.
Shall fair or foul its imprint prove, on those my life shall hail?
Shall blessing my impress be, or shall a blight prevail?
When to the last great reckoning the lives I meet must go,
Shall this ever, fleeting touch of mine have added joy or woe?
Shall He who looks their records o’er² - of name and time and place
Say ‘Here a blessed influence came’ or ‘Here is evil’s trace’?
From out each point of contact of my life with other lives
Flows ever that which helps the one who for the summit strives,
The troubled souls encountered - does it sweeten with its touch,
Or does it more embitter those embittered overmuch?
Does love in every handclasp flow in sympathy’s caress?
Do those that I have greeted know a newborn hopefulness?
Are tolerance and charity the keynote of my song
As I go plodding onward with earth’s eager, anxious throng?
My life shall touch a million lives in some way ere¹ I go
From this dear world of struggle to the land I do not know.
So this the wish I always wish, the prayer I ever pray:
Let my life help the other lives it touches by the way.
By Strickland Gillilan
¹ere: before.
²o’er: over.
A shorter version of the poem also exists, as follows.
My Influence
My life shall touch a dozen lives
Before this day is done,
Leave countless marks of good or ill,
E’er sets the evening sun.
This, the wish I always wish,
The prayer I always pray;
Lord, may my life help others lives,
It touches by the way.
By Strickland Gillilan
Click or tap on the following title to go to the article.
Strickland Gillilan Biography Gathered By David Hugh Beaumont
My life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done
Leave countless marks for good or ill ere¹ sets this evening sun.
Shall fair or foul its imprint prove, on those my life shall hail?
Shall blessing my impress be, or shall a blight prevail?
When to the last great reckoning the lives I meet must go,
Shall this ever, fleeting touch of mine have added joy or woe?
Shall He who looks their records o’er² - of name and time and place
Say ‘Here a blessed influence came’ or ‘Here is evil’s trace’?
From out each point of contact of my life with other lives
Flows ever that which helps the one who for the summit strives,
The troubled souls encountered - does it sweeten with its touch,
Or does it more embitter those embittered overmuch?
Does love in every handclasp flow in sympathy’s caress?
Do those that I have greeted know a newborn hopefulness?
Are tolerance and charity the keynote of my song
As I go plodding onward with earth’s eager, anxious throng?
My life shall touch a million lives in some way ere¹ I go
From this dear world of struggle to the land I do not know.
So this the wish I always wish, the prayer I ever pray:
Let my life help the other lives it touches by the way.
By Strickland Gillilan
¹ere: before.
²o’er: over.
A shorter version of the poem also exists, as follows.
My Influence
My life shall touch a dozen lives
Before this day is done,
Leave countless marks of good or ill,
E’er sets the evening sun.
This, the wish I always wish,
The prayer I always pray;
Lord, may my life help others lives,
It touches by the way.
By Strickland Gillilan
Click or tap on the following title to go to the article.
Strickland Gillilan Biography Gathered By David Hugh Beaumont
