Count That Day Lost Poem by George Eliot

Count That Day Lost

Rating: 3.5


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.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Gilad Cohen 30 September 2012

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.

48 16 Reply
Patrick 23 January 2018

Your reader sounds like a computer. Get a human or one more like. I may be a poet but don't yet know it.

6 5 Reply
estiallina 28 May 2018

It. Is. A. Computer.

1 0
Mohamad met 04 December 2017

Fuck yeah

6 3 Reply
mn mn.m, m ikmk n 10 November 2017

km, .pokl, m opk oi[ oikm m jin iokmhv yuhb uyfu

3 4 Reply
Rose Marie Juan-austin 29 September 2021

A beautiful poem with a great message and insight. Very inspiring and well expressed.

0 0 Reply
Bev Rilett 25 October 2020

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) .

2 2 Reply
Tanmay 27 February 2020

What is poem about

0 0 Reply
Adeeb Alfateh 13 June 2019

You've nothing done that you can trace That brought the sunshine to one face- such a beautiful poem; rated 10+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1 1 Reply
jeff cohen 26 November 2018

my name is jeff gdrbkuhgqge5ijevqiebdvijbtazianbtdilaev

0 2 Reply
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George Eliot

George Eliot

Warwickshire, England
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