Like a bread without the spreadin', Like a puddin' without sauce, Like a mattress without beddin', Like a cart without a hoss, Like a door without a latchstring, Like a fence without a stile, Like a dry an' barren creek bed -- Is the face without a smile. Like a house without a dooryard, Like a yard without a flower, Like a clock without a mainspring, That will never tell the hour; A thing that sort o' makes yo' feel A hunger all the while -- Oh, the saddest sight that ever was Is a face without a smile! The face of man was built for smiles, An' thereby he is blest Above the critters of the field, The birds an' all the rest; He's just a little lower Than the angels in the skies, An' the reason is that he can smile; Therein his glory lies! So smile an' don't forgit to smile, An' smile, an' smile ag'in; 'Twill help you all along the way, An' cheer you mile by mile; An' so, whatever is your lot, Jes' smile, an' smile, an' smile. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...E TENEBRIS [FROM THE SHADOWS] by OSCAR WILDE AUNT FANNY; A LEGEND OF A SHIRT by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM AFTERGLOW by CHARLES GRANGER BLANDEN GRANTA - A MEDLEY by GEORGE GORDON BYRON OBSERVATIONS IN THE ART OF ENGLISH POESY: 19. ELEGIAC VERSE: THE SECOND EPIGRAM by THOMAS CAMPION PERSPIRATION: A TRAVELING ECLOGUE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |