All the burden of my life's sweet task

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I t   D o n ' t   M e a n   A   T h i n g

Elmwood Cemetery

Memphis, Tennessee

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There will come that which ever pleases Thee;

For surely Thou dost love the good of men.

Help me to make the things that beauty hold

Amid these veering lines and diverse shades,

That cheer will bring to sad and solemn men

And tired women in their dreary haunts,

That youth will not forget on highways hard

With troubled years, when somber night is on,

And when no kindly light leads through the way,

That joy and love may dawn like newborn days

In hearts where long the chambers have been dark.

Let lowly life and dusty daily toil

Come near me evermore and day by day,

That I forget not them that still are kind

Though tried by years of unrequited toil,

Alas! and sometimes want and age and pain.

Let me not love my pictures more than men,

Nor follow the wild lead of some mad dream,

Nor see myself as if above the crowd

Commanding that they all bow low their heads;

Instead, with kindly heart and gentle hand

And smiles upon my face, let me serve them

Whose muscles ache in evening's twilight hour,

While mine in comfort still are fresh and strong.

May all these be not empty, idle words,

But all the burden of my life's sweet task.

And when Thou seest that my work is done,

Let me feel Thy soft evening shadows fall,

As when I climbed into my nursery bed

With childish faith, in time's old long ago;

And let the kiss of peace lie on my lips.

= Max Ehrmann =

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Happy Thursday