What Have We Done Today?

We shall do so much in the years to come,

But what have we done today?

We shall give our gold in a princely sum,

But what did we give today?

We shall lift the heart and dry the tear,

We shall plant a hope in the place of fear,

We shall speak the words of love and cheer,

But what did we speak today?

We shall be so kind in the after while,

But what have we done today?

We shall bring each lonely life a smile,

But what have we brought today?

We shall give to truth a grander birth,

And to steadfast faith a deeper worth,

We shall feed the hungering souls of earth,

But whom have we fed today?

We shall reap such joy in the by and by,

But what have we sown today?

We shall build us mansions in the sky,

But what have we built today?

‘Tis sweet in idle dreams to bask,

But here and now do we the task?

Yes, this is the thing our souls must ask—

“What have we done today?”

            - Nixon Waterman[1]

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[1] Nixon Waterman was born in Newark, Kendall County, Illinois in 1859. He was a newspaper writer and poet. He was a lecturer in the Chatauqua movement, that program of rural adult education so popular in those days. Nixon rose to prominence in the 1890s. His verse has a homely quality that was popular in its day, but which drew scathing comments from learned reviewers. He died in 1944 in Canton, Massachusetts