A Song Of Cheer

Be of good cheer, and have no fear     Of Fortune or Tomorrow:     To Hope's low whisper lend an ear     And turn away from Sorrow.     Time out of mind the soul is blind     To things God sends as blessings:     And Fortune often proves unkind     Merely in foolish guessings.     Within the soul we bear the whole     Of Hell and also Heaven;     And 'twixt the two is set the goal     Of dreams our lives have driven.     What counts above all deeds is Love,     And Friendship, that, remember,     In heart-beats keeps Life's record of     Its April and December.     To every one come rain and sun,     And calm and stormy weather:     What helps is not what Life has done,     But Life and Love together.     Of sun and rain and joy and pain     The web of Life is woven;     And ever through it runs the skein     Of Hope, with strand uncloven.     Now high in air it glitters fair;     Now dims beyond divining;     But still the thread winds golden there,     Although no longer shining.     Be of good cheer and have no fear     Of any care or sorrow;     The clouds at last will disappear,     And the sun will shine tomorrow.