Versos English Edmund Vance Cooke DON'T TAKE YOUR TROUBLES TO BED.

English poem

DON'T TAKE YOUR TROUBLES TO BED.

by (1866–1932)

Listen in the reader

You may labor your fill, friend of mine, if you will; You may worry a bit, if you must; You may treat your affairs as a series of cares, You may live on a scrap and a crust; But when the day's done, put it out of your head; Don't Take Your Troubles to Bed

You may batter your way through the thick of the fray, You may sweat, you may swear, you may grunt; You may be a jack-fool if you must, but this rule Should ever be kept at the front:— Don't fight with your pillow, but lay down your head And kick every worriment out of the bed.

That friend or that foe (which he is, I don't know), Whose name we have spoken as Death, Hovers close to your side, while you run or you ride, And he envies the warmth of your breath; But he turns him away, with a shake of his head, When he finds that you don't take your troubles to bed.