Explore "Preaching vs. Practice" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
It is easy to sit in the sunshine / And talk to the man in the shade; / It is easy to float in a well-trimmed boat, / And point out the places to wade.
But once we pass into the shadows, / We murmur and fret and frown, / And, our length from the bank, we shout for a plank, / Or throw up our hands and go down.
It is easy to sit in your carriage, / And counsel the man on foot, / But get down and walk, and you'll change your talk, / As you feel the peg in your boot.
It is easy to tell the toiler / How best he can carry his pack, / But no one can rate a burden's weight / Until it has been on his back.
The up-curled mouth of pleasure, / Can prate of sorrow's worth, / But give it a sip, and a wryer lip, / Was never made on earth.