Wishing
Do you wish the world were better?
Let me tell you what to do -
Set a watch upon your actions:
Keep them always straight and true,
Bid your mind of selfish motives;
Let your thoughts be clean and high;
You can make a little Eden
Of the sphere you occupy.
Do you wish the world to be wiser?
Well, suppose you make a start
By accumulating wisdom
In the scrap-book of your heart.
Do not waste one page in folly;
Live to learn and learn to live;
If you want to increase knowledge.
You must get ere you can give.
Do you wish the world were better?
Then remember day by day
Just to sow the seeds of kindness
As you pass along the way.
For the pleasure of the many
May be ofttimes traced to one.
As the hand that plants the acorn
Shelters armies from the sun.
Poet: Ella Wheeler Wilcox