A Smile and a Task by Nixon Waterman

A Smile and a Task
by
Nixon Waterman

Keep a smile on your lips; it is better
    To joyfully, hopefully try
For the end you would gain, than to fetter
    Your life with a moan and a sigh.
There are clouds in the firmament ever
    The beauty of heaven to mar,
Yet night so profound there is never
    But somewhere is shining a star.

Keep a task in your hands; you must labor;
    By deeds is true happiness won;
For stranger and friend and for neighbor,
    Rejoice there is much to be done.
Endeavor by crowning life’s duty
    With joy-giving song and with smile,
To make the world fuller of beauty
    Because you are in it a while.

From Boy Wanted (McClelland & Goodchild, 1906).
This poem is now in the public domain.

Nixon Waterman (1859 - 1944) was an American journalist and poet. He lived on a farm in Iowa for the first twenty years of his life, teaching school during the winter months. He began his newspaper career at the age of 21 and, in the course of his career,
worked for newspapers in Boston, Chicago, Denver, and Omaha. His columns were hugely popular because, as one reviewer put it, "Mr. Waterman writes for the common folk...He teaches the philosophy of garnering sunshine and his religion is the gospel of
brotherly love and kindness."

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