MY DUTY
There's one thing left me from the toil and fret
Hopes, plans, ambitions, failures of existence,
One thought, that over every life-regret
Rises each morning with the day-dawn's constance;
It is my duty—plain and homely word—
And yet before its priceless, hidden beauty
The noblest heart is stirred;
For from the lowly unseen glory of
Earth's unrecorded halo of good deeds
Bloom forth life's highest liberty and love,
And slaves whose creeds
Of freedom from all duty made them slaves
To their own evil natures (tyrant masters)
Would not be bound in chains from sun to sun
If every day's plain duty had been done.
Hopes, plans, ambitions, failures of existence,
One thought, that over every life-regret
Rises each morning with the day-dawn's constance;
It is my duty—plain and homely word—
And yet before its priceless, hidden beauty
The noblest heart is stirred;
For from the lowly unseen glory of
Earth's unrecorded halo of good deeds
Bloom forth life's highest liberty and love,
And slaves whose creeds
Of freedom from all duty made them slaves
To their own evil natures (tyrant masters)
Would not be bound in chains from sun to sun
If every day's plain duty had been done.
Each day my duty plain before me lies,
No shifting scene of unrealities
But a sweet, high and noble plan or way,
To scorn the wrong and do the right to-day.
O, if for man
Self-aggrandizement, pleasure, gain, avail
How shall we fail
To reach in this life the eternal plan?
But if to choose between the wrong and right,
The darkness and the light,
Then every little life within its scope
Shall every day have hope.
No shifting scene of unrealities
But a sweet, high and noble plan or way,
To scorn the wrong and do the right to-day.
O, if for man
Self-aggrandizement, pleasure, gain, avail
How shall we fail
To reach in this life the eternal plan?
But if to choose between the wrong and right,
The darkness and the light,
Then every little life within its scope
Shall every day have hope.
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