Work
Let me but do my work from day to day,
In field or forest, at the desk or loom,
In roaring market-place or tranquil room;
Let me but find it in my heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,
“This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;
“Of all who live, I am the one by whom
“This work can best be done in the right way.”
Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;
Then shall I cheerful greet the laboring hours,
And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall
At eventide, to play and love and rest,
Because I know for me my work is best.
by Henry van Dyke: “The Poems of Henry Van Dyke” (1933)
Henry Jackson van Dyke, Junior was born on 10 November 1852 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, United States of America. He became a Presbyterian minister, an educator, a short story writer, a poet, and an essayist. Henry Jackson van Dyke, Junior passed on at 80 years of age on 10 April 1933 in Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America.
Let me but do my work from day to day,
In field or forest, at the desk or loom,
In roaring market-place or tranquil room;
Let me but find it in my heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,
“This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;
“Of all who live, I am the one by whom
“This work can best be done in the right way.”
Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;
Then shall I cheerful greet the laboring hours,
And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall
At eventide, to play and love and rest,
Because I know for me my work is best.
by Henry van Dyke: “The Poems of Henry Van Dyke” (1933)
Henry Jackson van Dyke, Junior was born on 10 November 1852 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, United States of America. He became a Presbyterian minister, an educator, a short story writer, a poet, and an essayist. Henry Jackson van Dyke, Junior passed on at 80 years of age on 10 April 1933 in Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America.
