Life

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2 id="id01470" style="margin-top: 4em">LIFE</h2> <p id="id01471" style="margin-top: 2em">"What is life?" we ask. "Just one darned thing after another," the cynic replies. Yes, a multiplicity of forces and interests, and each of them, even the disagreeable, may be of real help to us. It's good for a dog, says a shrewd philosopher, to be pestered with fleas; it keeps him from thinking too much about being a dog.</p> <p id="id01472" style="margin-top: 2em">  What's life? A story or a song;<br/> A race on any track;<br/> A gay adventure, short or long,<br/> A puzzling nut to crack;<br/> A grinding task; a pleasant stroll;<br/> A climb; a slide down hill;<br/> A constant striving for a goal;<br/> A cake; a bitter pill;<br/> A pit where fortune flouts or stings;<br/> A playground full of fun;—<br/> With many any of these things;<br/> With others all in one.<br/> What's life? To love the things we see;<br/> The hills that touch the skies;<br/> The smiling sea; the laughing lea;<br/> The light in woman's eyes;<br/> To work and love the work we do;<br/> To play a game that's square;<br/> To grin a bit when feeling blue;<br/> With friends our joys to share;<br/> To smile, though games be lost or won;<br/> To earn our daily bread;—<br/> And when at last the day is done<br/> To tumble into bed.<br/></p> <p id="id01473" style="margin-top: 2em"><i>Griffith Alexander,</i></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />