If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.
But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost --
Then count that day as worse than lost.
Your reader sounds like a computer. Get a human or one more like. I may be a poet but don't yet know it.
A beautiful poem with a great message and insight. Very inspiring and well expressed.
Does anyone know when George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) wrote this or where she published it? Alternatively, if she didn't publish it, how we know she wrote it? Is it among any of her correspondence archived at the British Library or the Beinecke or someplace else? I am a scholar of this author and I want to believe she wrote " Count That Day Lost" but I have not found it yet as I research her life and works. Please feel free to write me at brilett2 at unl dot edu (the U of Nebraska) .
You've nothing done that you can trace That brought the sunshine to one face- such a beautiful poem; rated 10+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Hi ive got a question: When is a day well spent according to the poet? And what makes a day ? worse than lost ? according to the poet? Thanks.