Explore "Never Mind" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Whatever your work and whatever its worth, / No matter how strong or clever, / Some one will sneer if you pause to hear, / And scoff at your best endeavour. / For the target art has a broad expanse, / And wherever you chance to hit it, / Though close be your aim to the bull's-eye fame, / There are those who will never admit it.
Though the house applauds while the artist plays, / And a smiling world adores him, / Somebody is there with an ennuied air / To say that the acting bores him. / For the tower of art has a lofty spire, / With many a stair and landing, / And those who climb seem small oft-time / To one at the bottom standing.
So work along in your chosen niche / With a steady purpose to nerve you; / Let nothing men say who pass your way / Relax your courage or swerve you. / The idle will flock by the Temple of Art / For just the pleasure of gazing; / But climb to the top and do not stop, / Though they may not all be praising.