Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HARD WORK, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HARD WORK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's hard to keep smiling when troubles are
Last Line: Like a smile.
Subject(s): Grief; Weariness; Sorrow; Sadness; Fatigue


IT'S hard to keep smiling when troubles are piling their weight on your neck
till it's sprained; it's hard to keep grinning when others are winning the
prizes for which you have strained. It's hard to be cheery on days wet and
dreary, when everything near you looks drowned; it's hard to be sunny when all
of your money is sunk in a hole in the ground. It's hard to keep laughing when
wearily quaffing the flagon of grief to the dregs, it's harder to frolic when
you have the colic, or gout at the end of your legs. But how will it aid you,
when woe has waylaid you, to rumble and grumble and swear? There's nothing
that's healing in kicking the ceiling, or biting the rungs from a chair. It's
hard to look pleasant when anguish is present, and yet it is strictly worth
while; not all of your scowling and fussing and growling can show off your grit

like a smile.





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