A Few Labor Day Poems I Like

What makes a nation's pillars

   And it's foundation strong?

What makes it mighty to defy

   The foes that round it throng?

It is not gold, its kingdoms grand

   Go down in battles shock;

Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,

   Not on abiding rock.

Is it the sword?  Ask the red dust

   Of empires passed away;

The blood has turned their stories to rust,

   Their glory to decay.

And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown

   Has seemed to nations sweet;

But God has struck its luster down

   In ashes at His feet.

Not gold but only men can make

   A people great and strong;

Men who for truth and honors sake

   Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,

   Who dare while others fly. . .

They build a nation's pillars deep

   And lift them to the sky.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We have not wings, we cannot soar;

  But we have feet to scale and climb

By slow degrees, by more and more,

  The cloudy summits of our time.

The mighty pyramids of stone

  That wedge-like cleave the desert airs,

When nearer seen, and better known,

  Are but gigantic flights of stairs.

The distant mountains, that uprear

  Their solid bastions to the skies,

Are crossed by pathways, that appear

  As we to highger levels rise.

The heights by great men reached and kept

  Were not attained by suden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

  Were toiling upward in the night.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If you are poor, work.

If you are rich, continue to work.

If you are burdened with seemingly

unfair responsibility, work.

If you are happy, keep right on working.

Idleness gives room for doubts and fears.

If disappointments come, work.

If sorrow overwhelms you and loved ones

seem not true, work.

If health is threatened, work.

When faith falters and reason fails, just work.

When dreams are shattered and hope seems dead,

work as if your life was in peril.

It really is.

Whatever happens or matters, work.

Work faithfully, work with faith.

Work is the greatest material remedy available.

Work will cure both mental and physical afflictions.

Author Unknown

There are so many poems that remind us of the labor, strength, love and benefits of work. I hope you enjoyed these few Labor Day poems I wanted to share with you. Sometimes the simple words of a poem can really make you think, and can mean so much.

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