IT IS EASY ENOUGH to be pleasant, When life flows by like a song, But the man worth while is one who will smile, When everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is trouble, And it always comes with the years, And the smile that is worth the praises of earth Is the smile that shines through tears. It is easy enough to be prudent, When nothing tempts you to stray, When without or within no voice of sin Is luring your soul away; But it's only a negative virtue Until it is tried by fire, And the life that is worth the honor on earth Is the one that resists desire. By the cynic, the sad, the fallen, Who had no strength for the strife, The world's highway is cumbered to-day; They make up the sum of life. But the virtue that conquers passion, And the sorrow that hides in a smile, It is these that are worth the homage on earth For we find them but once in a while. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HIS CONSCIENCE by ROBERT HERRICK TO SPAIN - A LAST WORD by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS A LAMENT FOR PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN MOON RIDER by WILLIAM ROSE BENET THE HEART'S PICTURES by HIRAM H. BICE A NEW PILGRIMAGE: 17 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT SONNETS OF SEVEN CITIES: PITTSBURGH by BERTON BRALEY PARLEYINGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF IMPORTANCE: GERARD DE LAIRESSE by ROBERT BROWNING |