PAIN

Why must I be hurt?
Suffering and despair,
Cowardice and cruelty,
Envy and injustice,
All of these hurt.
Grief and terror,
Loneliness and betrayal
And the agony of loss or death -
all these things hurt.
Why? Why must life hurt?
Why must those who love generously,
Live honorably, feel deeply
All that is good - and beautiful
Be so hurt, While selfish creatures
Go unscathed?
That is why -
Because they can feel.
Hurt is the price to pay for feeling.
Pain is not accident,
Nor punishment, or mockery
By some savage god.
Pain is part of growth.
The more we grow
The more we feel-

The more we feel - the more we suffer,
For if we are able to feel beauty,
We must also feel the lack of it -
Those who glimpse heaven
Are bound to sight hell.
To have felt deeply is worth
Anything it costs
To have felt Love and Honor,
Courage and Ecstasy
Is worth - any price.
And so - since hurt is the price
Of larger Living, I will not
Hate pain, nor try to escape it
Instead I try to meet it.
Bravely, bear it proudly;
Not as a cross, or misfortune,
but an opportunity, a privilege,
a challenge - to the God that
gropes within me.
(Elsie Robinson)

THE HARD JOB

It's good to do the hard job,
for it's good to play the man,
For the hard job strengthens
courage which the easy never can.
And the hard job, when it's over,
gives the man a broader smile -
For it brings the joy of knowing
that's he's done a thing worth while.

Oh, stand you to your hard job with
the will to see it through,
Be glad that you can face it
and be glad it's yours to do;
It is when the task is mighty
and the outcome deep in doubt,
The riches joys are waiting
for the man who'll work it out.

Beyond the gloom of failure
lies the glory to be won,
When the hard job is accomplished
and the doubtful task is done;
For it's manhood in the making
and its courage put to test -
So buckle to the hard job -
it's your chance to do your best.
(Edgar A. Guest)