p. 295 | HOW EASY IT IS! by The Watchman

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, May 12, 1885

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 19

HOW EASY IT IS!

By The Watchman

How easy it is to spoil a day! The thoughtless word of a cherished friend, The selfish act of a child at play, The strength of a will that will not bend, The slight of a comrade, the scorn of a foe, The smile that is full of bitter things— They all can tarnish its golden glow, And take the grace from its airy wings.

How easy it is to spoil a day By the force of a thought we did not check; By little we mold the clay, And little flaws may the vessel wreck; A careless waste of a white-winged hour, That held the blessings we long had sought, A sudden failure of wealth or power, And, lo! the day is with ill inwrought.

How easy it is to spoil a life— And many are spoilt ere well begun— Some light darkened by sin and strife, Or downward course of a cherished one; A toll that robs the form of its grace, And undermines till health gives way; The peevish temper, the frowning face, The hopes that go and the cares that stay.

Life is too long to be spent in vain; Some good should come as the hours go by; The tangled maze may be made more plain, Some lowered glance may be raised on high. If life is too short to spoil like this; If only a prelude, it may be sweet; Let us bind together its thread of bliss, And nourish the flowers around our feet.

— The Watchman.