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If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley — but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.
If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway happier make;
If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass —
But the liveliest bass in the lake!
We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,
There's something for all of us here,
There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,
And the task you must do is the near.
If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can't be the sun be a star;
It isn't by size that you win or you fail —
Be the best of whatever you are!
This poem is in the public domain.
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Douglas Malloch (1877 – 1938) was an American editor, journalist, and poet. Born in Michigan, he wrote a poem at age ten that was published in the Muskegon Chronicle, where, years later, he worked as a reporter and featured writer. Douglas grew up in an area rife with logging camps, lumber yards, and sawmills, so much of his work focused on forestry. He was a long-time columnist for the American Lumberman and eventually became that publication's managing editor. A nationally recognized humorist, lecturer, and radio personality, Douglas was an active mason and published numerous books, several of which were bestsellers.
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