TAKE THE WORLD AS IT IS
by Charles Swain

Take the world as it is --- with its smiles and its sorrow,
It's love and its friendship --- its falsehood and truth ---
Its schemes that depend on the breath of tomorrow!
Its hopes which pass by like the dreams of our youth -
Yet, oh! Whilst the light of affection may shine,
The heart in itself hath a fountain of bliss!
In the worst there's some spark of a nature divine,
And the wisest and best take the world as it is.