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Title: Better
Author: Edmund Vance Cooke [
More Titles by Cooke]
There's only one motto you need
To succeed:
"Better."
To other man's winning? Then you
Must do
Better.
From the baking of bread
To the breaking a head,
From rhyming a ballad
To sliming a salad,
From mending of ditches
To spending of riches,
Follow the rule to the uttermost letter:
"Better!"
Of course you may say but a few
Can do
Better;
And you're going to strive
So that all may thrive
Better.
And it's right you are
To follow the star,
Set in the heavens, afar, afar;
But still with your eyes
On the skies
It is wise
To be riding a mule,
Or guiding a school,
Thatching a hovel
Or hatching a novel,
Foretelling weather,
Or selling shoe-leather;
And remember you must
Be doing it just
A wee dust
Better.
And 'tis quite
As right
For you to cite
That the author might,
Or ought, to write
A heavenly sight
Better!
For which sharp word I am much your debtor,
Knowing none other could file my fetter
Better.
[The end]
Edmund Vance Cooke's poem: Better
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