On Perserverance

It Couldn't Be Done

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied,
That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one,
Who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin,
On his face; if he worried he hid it.
He started to sing, he tackled the thing,
That couldn't be done, and did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh you'll never do that;
At least, no one ever has done it."
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing he knew, he'd begun it.
With the lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or 'quiddit',
He started to sing as he tackled the thing,
That couldn't be done ... and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing,
That cannot be done and you'll do it.

--Edgar A. Guest

--borrowed from Terrie's Roundtable Resources, Gilwell Spirit Webring.
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Edgar Albert Guest, the People's Poet

Edgar Albert Guest (August 20, 1881, Biringham, England to August 5, 1959, Detroit, Michigan) (aka Eddie Guest) was a prolific American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th Century and became known as the People’s Poet.

In 1891, Guest came with his family to the United States from England. After he began at the Detroit Free Press as a copy boy and then a reporter, his first poem appeared December 11, 1898. He became a naturalized citizen in 1902. For 40 years, Guest was widely read throughout North America, and his sentimental, optimistic poems were in the same vein as the light verse of Nick Kennedy, who wrote syndicated columns during the same decades.

From his first published work in the Detroit Free Press until his death in 1959, Guest penned some 11,000 poems which were syndicated in some 300 newspapers and collected in more than 20 books, including A Heap o' Livin' (1916) and Just Folks (1917). Guest was made Poet Laureate of Michigan, the only poet to have been awarded the title.

--more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Guest; the WB Scribbler says a book of Guest's poems is the perfect tonic for a cold, gray winter day; his poetry lets you savor a really bad mood in front of a warm fire and come out smilin'!

--WB Scribbler

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