The Poetry Corner

What Is Right Living?

By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What is right living?Just to do your best When worst seems easier.To bear the ills Of daily life with patient cheerfulness Nor waste dear time recounting them. To talk Of hopeful things when doubt is in the air. To count your blessings often, giving thanks, And to accept your sorrows silently, Nor question why you suffer.To accept The whole of life as one perfected plan, And welcome each event as part of it. To work, and love your work; to trust, to pray For larger usefulness and clearer sight. This is right living, pleasing in God's eyes, Though you be heathen, heretic or Jew.