Then Laugh
Build for yourself a strongbox,
Fashion each part with care;
When it’s strong as your hand can make it,
Put all your troubles there;
Hide there all thought of your failures;
And each bitter cup that you quaff;
Lock all your heartaches within it,
Then sit on the lid and laugh.
Tell no one else its contents,
Never its secrets share;
When you’ve dropped in your care and worry
Keep them forever there;
Hide them from sight so completely
That the world will never dream half;
Fasten the strongbox securely;
Then sit on the lid and laugh.
by Bertha Adams Backus (1911)
Bertha Adams Backus was born as Bertha May Adams on 18 May 1870 in Wethersfield, Connecticut, United States of America. She became a poet. On 30 December 1893, she married Charles Palmer Backus, who was born on 16 July 1870 in New Britain, Connecticut. Bertha Adams Backus passed on at about 86 years of age in 1956.
Build for yourself a strongbox,
Fashion each part with care;
When it’s strong as your hand can make it,
Put all your troubles there;
Hide there all thought of your failures;
And each bitter cup that you quaff;
Lock all your heartaches within it,
Then sit on the lid and laugh.
Tell no one else its contents,
Never its secrets share;
When you’ve dropped in your care and worry
Keep them forever there;
Hide them from sight so completely
That the world will never dream half;
Fasten the strongbox securely;
Then sit on the lid and laugh.
by Bertha Adams Backus (1911)
Bertha Adams Backus was born as Bertha May Adams on 18 May 1870 in Wethersfield, Connecticut, United States of America. She became a poet. On 30 December 1893, she married Charles Palmer Backus, who was born on 16 July 1870 in New Britain, Connecticut. Bertha Adams Backus passed on at about 86 years of age in 1956.
