DO NOT BORROW TROUBLE.
Do not ever trouble borrow;
You’ll find enough of it at home;
Find enough for self, and neighbor,
You will for it not have to roam.
Go not forth to meet sad Trouble,
For she with tears will e’er you greet.
But if given a cold greeting,
She will acknowledge her defeat.
Do not cross life’s troubled waters
While you are yet upon the land.
Do not feel that you are sinking
Beneath life’s drifting, shifting sand.
Though your life may seem a desert,
Of scorching winds, and burning sand;
You may find some green oasis,
Some beauty in a desert land.
Trouble is a turbid river.
On it you need not launch life’s boat.
Life has rivers calm and peaceful,
And placid streams on which to float.
You may never cross the river,
On troubled sea may not be tossed.
Though life’s bridge be weak and swaying,
By you, the bridge need not be crossed.
Do not think that you must carry
The burdens of life’s yesterday.
Do not look for grief tomorrow,
With courage live your life today.
You must rise above all trouble,
And keep it ever from your view;
It can ever then be vanquished,
And you can bid it glad adieu.