| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
| |
| Take the World As It Is |
| | | Charles Swain (1803–74) |
| |
| |
| TAKE the world as it is!—there are good and bad in it, | |
| And good and bad will be from now to the end; | |
| And they, who expect to make saints in a minute, | |
| Are in danger of marring more hearts than they ’ll mend. | |
| If ye wish to be happy ne’er seek for the faults, | 5 |
| Or you ’re sure to find something or other amiss; | |
| ’Mid much that debases, and much that exalts, | |
| The world’s not a bad one if left as it is. | |
| |
| Take the world as it is!—if the surface be shining, | |
| Ne’er rake up the sediment hidden below! | 10 |
| There ’s wisdom in this, but there ’s none in repining | |
| O’er things which can rarely be mended, we know. | |
| There ’s beauty around us, which let us enjoy; | |
| And chide not, unless it may be with a kiss; | |
| Though Earth’s not the Heaven we thought when a boy, | 15 |
| There ’s something to live for, if ta’en as it is. | |
| |
| Take the world as it is!—with its smiles and its sorrow, | |
| Its love and its friendship,—its falsehood and truth, | |
| Its schemes that depend on the breath of to-morrow, | |
| Its hopes which pass by like the dreams of our youth: | 20 |
| Yet, oh! whilst the light of affection may shine, | |
| The heart in itself hath a fountain of bliss; | |
| In the worst there ’s some spark of a nature divine, | |
| And the wisest and best take the world as it is. | |
| |
|
|
|
