It Can Be Done - Joseph Morris
IT CAN BE DONE
POEMS OF INSPIRATION
COLLECTED BY
JOSEPH MORRIS and ST. CLAIR ADAMS
FOREWORD
This is a volume of inspirational poems. Its purpose is to bring men
courage and resolution, to cheer them, to fire them with new confidence
when they grow dispirited, to strengthen their faith that THINGS CAN BE
DONE. It is better for this purpose than the entire works of any one
poet, for it takes the cream of many and has greater diversity than any
one writer can show.
It is made up chiefly of very recent poems--not such as were written for
anthologies of poetical "gems," but such as speak directly to the heart,
always in very simple language, often in the phrases of shop or office
or street. Included, however, with the poems of the day are a few of the
fine old pieces that have been of comfort to men through the ages.
Besides the poems themselves, the volume contains helps to their
understanding and enjoyment. The pieces are introduced by short
comments; these serve the same purpose as the strain played by the
pianist before the singer begins to sing; they create a mood, give a
point of view, throw light on the meaning of what follows. Also the
lives of the authors are briefly summarized; this is in answer to our
natural interest in the writer of a poem we like, and in the case of
living poets it brings together facts hardly to be found anywhere else.
Finally, the book is not one to be read and then cast aside. It is to be
kept as a constant companion and an unfailing recourse in weariness or
gloom. Human companions are not always in the mood to cheer us, and may
talk upon themes we dislike. But this book will converse or be silent,
it is never out of sorts or discouraged, and so far from being wed to
some single topic, it will speak to us at any time on any subject we
desire.
To many authors and publishers acknowledgment is due for generous
permission to use copyright material.
CONTENTS
Abou Ben Adhem............................. _Leigh Hunt_
Answer, The................................ _Grantland Rice_
Appreciation............................... _William Judson Kibby_
Arrow and the Song, The.................... _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_
Awareness.................................. _Miriam Teichner_
Bars of Fate, The.......................... _Ellen M.H. Gates_
Battle Cry................................. _John G. Neihardt_
Belly and the Members, The................. _William Shakespeare_
Be the Best of Whatever You Are............ _Douglas Malloch_
Borrowed Feathers.......................... _Joseph Morris_
Borrowing Trouble.......................... _Robert Burns_
Brave Life................................. _Grantland Rice_
Call of the Unbeaten, The.................. _Grantland Rice_
Can't...................................... _Edgar A. Guest_
Can You Sing a Song?....................... _Joseph Morris_
Cares...................................... _Elizabeth Barrett Browning_
Celestial Surgeon, The..................... _Robert Louis Stevenson_
Challenge.................................. _Jean Nette_
Chambered Nautilus, The.................... _Oliver Wendell Holmes_
Character of a Happy Life.................. _Sir Henry Wotton_
Clear the Way.............................. _Charles Mackay_
Cleon and I................................ _Charles Mackay_
Columbus................................... _Joaquin Miller_
Conqueror, The............................. _Berton Braley_
Co-operation............................... _J. Mason Knox_
Courage.................................... _Florence Earle Coates
Cowards.................................... _William Shakespeare_
Creed, A................................... _Edwin Markham_
Daffodils, The............................. _William Wordsworth_
Days of Cheer.............................. _James W. Foley_
December 31................................ _S.E. Kiser_
De Sunflower Ain't de Daisy................ _Anonymous_
Disappointed, The.......................... _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
Duty....................................... _Ralph Waldo Emerson_
Duty....................................... _Edwin Markham_
Envoi...................................... _John G. Neihardt_
Essentials................................. _St. Clair Adams_
Fable...................................... _Ralph Waldo Emerson_
Fairy Song................................. _John Keats_
Faith...................................... _S.E. Kiser_
Faith...................................... _Edward Rowland Sill_
Fighter, The............................... _S.E. Kiser_
Fighting Failure, The...................... _Everard Jack Appleton_
Firm of Grin and Barrett, The.............. _Sam Walter Foss_
Four Things................................ _Henry Van Dyke_
Friends of Mine............................ _James W. Foley_
Game, The.................................. _Grantland Rice _
Gifts of God, The.......................... _George Herbert_
Gift, The.................................. _Robert Burns_
Gladness................................... _Anna Hempstead Branch_
Glad Song, The............................. _Joseph Morris_
God........................................ _Gamaliel Bradford_
Good Deeds................................. _William Shakespeare_
Good Intentions............................ _St. Clair Adams_
Good Name, A............................... _William Shakespeare_
Gradatim................................... _G. Holland_
Gray Days.................................. _Griffith Alexander_
Greatness of the Soul, The................. _Alfred Tennyson_
Grief...................................... _Angela Morgan_
Grumpy Guy, The............................ _Griffith Alexander_
Happy Heart, The........................... _Thomas Dekker_
Has-Beens, The............................. _Walt Mason_
Having Done and Doing...................... _William Shakespeare_
Heinelet................................... _Gamaliel Bradford _
Helpin' Out................................ _William Judson Kibby_
Here's Hopin'.............................. _Frank L. Stanton_
Hero, A.................................... _Florence Earle Coates_
He Whom a Dream Hath Possessed............. _Sheamus O Sheel_
His Ally................................... _William Rose Benet_
Hoe Your Row............................... _Frank L. Stanton_
Hold Fast.................................. _Everard Jack Appleton_
Hope....................................... _Anonymous_
Hopeful Brother, A......................... _Frank L. Stanton_
House by the Side of the Road, The......... _Sam Walter Foss_
How Did You Die?........................... _Edmund Vance Cooke_
How Do You Tackle Your Work?............... _Edgar A. Guest_
Hymn to Happiness, A....................... _James W. Foley_
If......................................... _John Kendrick Bangs_
If......................................... _Rudyard Kipling_
If I Should Die............................ _Ben King_
If You Can't Go Over or Under, Go Round.... _Joseph Morris_
I'm Glad................................... _Anonymous_
Inner Light, The........................... _John Milton_
Invictus................................... _William Ernest Henley_
Is It Raining, Little Flower?.............. _Anonymous_
It Couldn't Be Done........................ _Edgar A. Guest_
It May Be.................................. _S.E. Riser_
It Won't Stay Blowed....................... _St. Clair Adams_
Jaw........................................ _St. Clair Adams_
Joy of Living, The......................... _Gamaliel Bradford_
Just Be Glad............................... _James Whitcomb Riley_
Just Whistle............................... _Frank L. Stanton_
Keep A-Goin'!.............................. _Frank L. Stanton_
Keep On Keepin' On......................... _Anonymous_
Keep Sweet................................. _Strickland W. Gillilan_
Kingdom of Man, The........................ _John Kendrick Bangs_
Know Thyself............................... _Angela Morgan_
Laugh a Little Bit......................... _Edmund Vance Cooke_
Lesson from History, A..................... _Joseph Morris_
Let Me Live Out My Years................... _John G. Neihardt_
Life....................................... _Griffith Alexander_
Life....................................... _Edward Rowland Sill_
Life....................................... _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
Life and Death............................. _Anna Barbauld_
Life and Death............................. _Ernest H. Crosby_
Life, not Death............................ _Alfred Tennyson_
Life Without Passion....................... _William Shakespeare_
Lion Path, The............................. _Charlotte Perkins Gilman_
Lions and Ants............................. _Walt Mason_
Little Prayer, A........................... _S.E. Kiser_
Little Thankful Song, A.................... _Frank L. Stanton_
Lose the Day Loitering..................... _Johann Wolfgang von Goethe_
Man, Bird, and God......................... _Robert Browning_
Man or Manikin............................. _Richard Butler Glaenzer_
Man's a Man for A' That, A................. _Robert Burns_
Man Who Frets at Worldly Strife, The....... _Joseph Rodman Drake_
Meetin' Trouble............................ _Everard Jack Appleton_
"Might Have Been".......................... _Grantland Rice_
Mistress Fate.............................. _William Rose Benet_
Morality................................... _Matthew Arnold_
My Creed................................... _S.E. Kiser_
My Philosophy.............................. _James Whitcomb Riley_
My Triumph................................. _John Greenleaf Whittier_
My Wage.................................... _Jessie B. Rittenhouse_
Never Trouble Trouble...................... _St. Clair Adams_
New Duckling, The.......................... _Alfred Noyes_
Noble Nature, The.......................... _Ben Jonson_
Ode to Duty................................ _William Wordsworth_
On Being Ready............................. _Grantland Rice_
On Down the Road........................... _Grantland Rice_
One Fight More............................. _Theodosia Garrison_
One of These Days.......................... _James W. Foley_
One, The................................... _Everard Jack Appleton_
Opening Paradise........................... _Thomas Gray_
Opportunity................................ _Berton Braley_
Opportunity................................ _John James Ingalls_
Opportunity................................ _Walter Malone_
Opportunity................................ _Edwin Markham_
Opportunity................................ _William Shakespeare_
Opportunity................................ _Edward Rowland Sill_
Order and the Bees......................... _William Shakespeare_
Ownership.................................. _St. Clair Adams_
Painting the Lily.......................... _William Shakespeare_
Per Aspera................................. _Florence Earle Coates_
Pessimist, The............................. _Ben King_
Philosopher, A............................. _John Kendrick Bangs_
Philosophy for Croakers.................... _Joseph Morris_
Pippa's Song............................... _Robert Browning_
Playing the Game........................... _Anonymous_
Playing the Game........................... _Berton Braley_
Play the Game.............................. _Henry Newbolt_
Polonius's Advice to Laertes............... _William Shakespeare_
Poor Unfortunate, A........................ _Frank L. Stanton_
Praise the Generous Gods for Giving........ _William Ernest Henley_
Prayer, A.................................. _Theodosia Garrison_
Prayer for Pain............................ _John G. Neihardt_
Preparedness............................... _Edwin Markham_
Press On................................... _Park Benjamin _
Pretty Good World, A....................... _Frank L. Stanton_
Problem to Be Solved, A.................... _St. Clair Adams_
Prometheus Unbound......................... _Percy Bysshe Shelley_
Prospice................................... _Robert Browning_
Psalm of Life, A........................... _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_
Quitter, The............................... _Robert W. Service_
Rabbi Ben Ezra............................. _Robert Browning_
Rainbow, The............................... _William Wordsworth_
Rectifying Years, The...................... _St. Clair Adams_
Resolve.................................... _Charlotte Perkins Gilman_
Richer Mines, The.......................... _John Kendrick Bangs_
Ring Out, Wild Bells....................... _Alfred Tennyson_
Rules for the Road......................... _Edwin Markham_
Sadness and Merriment...................... _William Shakespeare_
Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth....... _Arthur Hugh Clough_
See It Through............................. _Edgar A. Guest_
Self-Dependence............................ _Matthew Arnold_
Serenity................................... _Lord Byron_
Sit Down, Sad Soul......................... _Bryan Waller Procter_
Sleep and the Monarch...................... _William Shakespeare_
Slogan..................................... _Jane M'Lean_
Smiles..................................... _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
Smiling Paradox, A......................... _John Kendrick Bangs_
Solitude................................... _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
Song of Endeavor........................... _James W. Foley_
Song of Life, A............................ _Angela Morgan_
Song of Thanksgiving, A.................... _Angela Morgan_
Song of To-morrow, A....................... _Frank L. Stanton_
Stability.................................. _William Shakespeare_
Stand Forth!............................... _Angela Morgan_
Start Where You Stand...................... _Bert on Braley_
Steadfast.................................. _Everard Jack Appleton_
Stone Rejected, The........................ _Edwin Markham_
Struggle, The.............................. _Miriam Teichner_
Submission................................. _Miriam Teichner_
Success.................................... _Berton Braley_
Swellitis.................................. _Joseph Morris_
Syndicated Smile, The...................... _St. Clair Adams_
There Will Always Be Something to Do....... _Edgar A. Guest_
Thick Is the Darkness...................... _William Ernest Henley_
Things That Haven't Been Done Before, The.. _Edgar A. Guest_
This World................................. _Frank L. Stanton_
Times Go by Turns.......................... _Robert Southwell_
Tit for Tat................................ _St. Clair Adams_
To Althea from Prison...................... _Richard Lovelace_
Toast to Merriment, A...................... _James W. Foley_
To a Young Man............................. _Edgar A. Guest_
To-day..................................... _Thomas Carlyle_
To-day..................................... _Douglas Malloch_
To Melancholy.............................. _John Kendrick Bangs_
To the Men Who Lose........................ _Anonymous_
To Those Who Fail.......................... _Joaquin Miller_
To Youth After Pain........................ _Margaret Widdemer_
Trainers, The.............................. _Grantland Rice_
Two at a Fireside.......................... _Edwin Markham_
Two Raindrops.............................. _Joseph Morris_
Ultimate Act............................... _Henry Bryan Binns_
Ulysses.................................... _Alfred Tennyson_
Unafraid................................... _Everard Jack Appleton_
Undismayed................................. _James W. Foley_
Unmusical Soloist, The..................... _Joseph Morris_
Unsubdued.................................. _S.E. Kiser_
Victory.................................... _Miriam Teichner_
Victory in Defeat.......................... _Edwin Markham_
Wanted--a Man.............................. _St. Clair Adams_
Welcome Man, The........................... _Walt Mason_
What Dark Days Do.......................... _Everard Jack Appleton_
When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted....... _Rudyard Kipling_
When Nature Wants a Man.................... _Angela Morgan_
Will....................................... _Alfred Tennyson_
Will....................................... _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
Wisdom of Folly, The....................... _Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler_
Wishing.................................... _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
Woman Who Understands, The................. _Everard Jack Appleton_
Word, The.................................. _John Kendrick Bangs_
Work....................................... _Angela Morgan_
Work....................................... _Henry Van Dyke_
World Is Against Me, The................... _Edgar A. Guest_
Worth While................................ _Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
You May Count That Day..................... _George Eliot_
Your Mission............................... _Ellen M.H. Gates_
IT CAN BE DONE
BE THE BEST OF WHATEVER YOU ARE
We all dream of great deeds and high positions, away from the pettiness
and humdrum of ordinary life. Yet success is not occupying a lofty place
or doing conspicuous work; it is being the best that is in you. Rattling
around in too big a job is much worse than filling a small one to
overflowing. Dream, aspire by all means; but do not ruin the life you
must lead by dreaming pipe-dreams of the one you would like to lead.
Make the most of what you have and are. Perhaps your trivial, immediate
task is your one sure way of proving your mettle. Do the thing near at
hand, and great things will come to your hand to be done.
If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill
Be a scrub in the valley--but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.
If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway some happier make;
If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass--
But the liveliest bass in the lake!
We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,
There's something for all of us here.
There's big work to do and there's lesser to do,
And the task we must do is the near.
If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can't be the sun be a star;
It isn't by size that you win or you fail--
Be the best of whatever you are!
_Douglas Malloch._
THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD
This poem has as its keynote friendship and sympathy for other people.
It is a paradox of life that by hoarding love and happiness we lose
them, and that only by giving them away can we keep them for ourselves.
The more we share, the more we possess. We of course find in other
people weaknesses and sins, but our best means of curing these are
through a wise and sympathetic understanding.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by--
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban;--
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I see from my house by the side of the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears--
Both parts of an infinite plan;--
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead
And mountains of wearisome height;
And the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by--
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish--so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat
Or hurl the cynic's ban?--
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
_Sam Walter Foss._
From "Dreams in Homespun."
FOUR THINGS
What are the qualities of ideal manhood? Various people have given
various answers to this question. Here the poet states what qualities he
thinks indispensable.
Four things a man must learn to do
If he would make his record true:
To think without confusion clearly;
To love his fellow-men sincerely;
To act from honest motives purely;
To trust in God and Heaven securely.
_Henry Van Dyke._
From "Collected Poems."
IF
The central idea of this poem is that success comes from self-control
and a true sense of the values of things. In extremes lies danger. A man
must not lose heart because of doubts or opposition, yet he must do his
best to see the grounds for both. He must not be deceived into thinking
either triumph or disaster final; he must use each wisely--and push on.
In all things he must hold to the golden mean. If he does, he will own
the world, and even better, for his personal reward he will attain the
full stature of manhood.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them; "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
_Rudyard Kipling._
From "Rudyard Kipling's Verse, 1885-1918."
INVICTUS
Triumph in spirit over adverse conditions is the keynote of this poem of
courage undismayed. It rings with the power of the individual to guide
his own destiny.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
_William Ernest Henley._
IT COULDN'T BE DONE
After a thing has been done, everybody is ready to declare it easy. But
before it has been done, it is called impossible. One reason why people
fear to embark upon great enterprises is that they see all the
difficulties at once. They know they could succeed in the initial tasks,
but they shrink from what is to follow. Yet "a thing begun is half
done." Moreover the surmounting of the first barrier gives strength and
ingenuity for the harder ones beyond. Mountains viewed from a distance
seem to be unscalable. But they can be climbed, and the way to begin is
to take the first upward step. From that moment the mountains are less
high. As Hannibal led his army across the foothills, then among the
upper ranges, and finally over the loftiest peaks and passes of the
Alps, or as Peary pushed farther and farther into the solitudes that
encompass the North Pole, so can you achieve any purpose whatsoever if
you heed not the doubters, meet each problem as it arises, and keep ever
with you the assurance _It Can Be Done_.
Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.