Explore "Most Blest Is He" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Most blest is he who in the morning time / Sets forth upon his journey with no staff / Shaped by another for his use. Who sees / The imminent necessity for toil, / And with each morning wakens to the thought / Of tasks that wait his doing. Never yet / Has unearned leisure and the gift of gold / Bestowed such benefits upon the young / As need and loneliness; and when life adds / The burden of a duty, difficult, / And hard to carry, then rejoice, O soul! / And know thyself one chosen for high things.
Behind thee walk the Helpers. Yet lead on! / They only help the lifters, and they give / But unto those who also freely give. / Not till thy will, thy courage, and thy strength / Have done their utmost, and thy love has flowed / In pity and compassion, out to all / (The worthless, the ungrateful, and the weak, / As well as to the worthy and the strong) / Canst thou receive invisible support. / Do first thy part, and all of it, before / Asking the helpers to do aught for thee. / For this alone the Universe exists, / That man may find himself is Destiny.