Count That Day Lost

      George Eliot

            If you sit down at set of sun
            And count the acts that you have done,
            And, counting, find
            One self-denying deed, one word
            That eased the heart of him who heard
            , One glance most kind
            That fell like sunshine where it went--
            Then you may count that day well spent.

            But if, through all the livelong day,
            You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay--
            If, through it all
            You've nothing done that you can trace
            That brought the sunshine to one face--
            No act most small
            That helped some soul and nothing cost--
            Then count that day as worse than lost.