I wonder will it please my dad? How oft the thought occurs
When I am stumbling on the paths, beset with briars and burrs!
He isn't here to see me now, alone my race I run,
And yet some day I'll go to him and tell him all I've done.
And oh I pray that when we meet beyond life's stormy sea
That he may claim the old-time joy of being proud of me.
Living Flowers
"I'm never alone in the garden," he said. "I'm never alone with the flowers.
It seems like I'm meeting the wonderful dead out here with these blossoms of ours.
An' there's never a bush or a plant or a tree, but somebody loved it of old.
An' the souls of the angels come talkin' to me through the petals of crimson an' gold.
"The lilacs in spring bring the mother once more, an' she lives in the midsummer rose.
She smiles in the peony clump at the door, an' sings when the four o'clocks close.
She loved every blossom God gave us to own, an' daily she gave it her care.
So never I walk in the garden alone, for I feel that the mother's still there.
"These are the pinks that a baby once kissed, still spicy with fragrance an' fair.
The years have been long since her laughter I've missed, but her spirit is hovering there.
The roses that ramble and twine on the wall were planted by one that was kind
An' I'm sure as I stand here an' gaze on them all, that his soul has still lingered behind.
"I'm never alone in the garden," he said, "I have many to talk with an' see,
For never a flower comes to bloom in its bed, but it brings back a loved one to me.
An' I fancy whenever I'm bendin' above these blossoms of crimson an' gold,
That I'm seein' an' hearin' the ones that I love, who lived in the glad days of old."
The Common Joys
These joys are free to all who live,
The rich and poor, the great and low:
The charms which kindness has to give,
The smiles which friendship may bestow,
The honor of a well-spent life,
The glory of a purpose true,
High courage in the stress of strife,
And peace when every task is through.
Nor class nor caste nor race nor creed,
Nor greater might can take away
The splendor of an honest deed.
Who nobly serves from day to day
Shall walk the road of life with pride,
With friends who recognize his worth,
For never are these joys denied
Unto the humblest man on earth.