Poetry Revisited: Life’s Grandest Things by Jean Blewett

Life’s Grandest Things

(from The Cornflower and Other Poems: 1906)

What is the greatest work of all?
The work that comes every day;
The work that waits us on ev’ry hand
Is work that, for us, is truly grand,
And the love of work is our pay.

What is the highest life of all?
It is living, day by day,
True to ourselves and true to the right,
Living the truth from dawn till the night,
And the love of truth for our pay.

What is the grandest thing of all –
Is it winning Heaven some day?
No, and a thousand times say no;
‘Tis making this old world thrill and glow
With the sun of love till each shall know
Something of Heaven here below,
And God’s well done for our pay.

Jean Blewett (1862-1934)
Canadian journalist, author and poet