“What is Life to You?”
The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, June 7, 1908
To the preacher life's a sermon,
To the joker it's a jest;
To the miser life is money,
To the loafer life is rest.
To the lawyer life's a trial,
To the poet life's a song;
To the doctor life's a patient
That needs treatment right along.
To the soldier life's a battle,
To the teacher life's a school;
Life's a good thing to the grafter,
It's a failure to the fool.
To the man upon the engine
Life's a long and heavy grade;
It's a gamble to the gambler,
To the merchant life's a trade.
Life's a picture to the artist,
To the rascal life's a fraud;
Life perhaps is but a burden
To the man beneath the hod.
Life is lovely to the lover,
To the player life's a play;
Life may be a load of trouble
To the man upon the dray.
Life is but a long vacation
To the man who loves his work;
Life's an everlasting effort
To shun duty to the shirk.
To the heaven's blest romancer
Life's a story ever new;
Life is what we try to make it—
Brother, what is life to you?