If one poor burdened toiler o'er
life's road,
Who meets us by
the way,
Goes on less conscious of his galling
load,
Then life, indeed,
does pay.
If we can show one troubled heart
the gain
That lies alway
in loss,
Why, then, we too, are paid for
all the pain
Of bearing life's
hard cross.
If some despondent soul to hope is
stirred,
Some sad lip made
to smile,
By any act of ours, or any word,
Then, life has
been worth while.
Poems of Power by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Chicago : W. B. Conkey, 1902.
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