And If I Did Not Make Mistakes

And if I did not make mistakes

And give too brief a thought to heavy questions

And too much time to a little matter

Or if I always knew which road to travel

Where every step would lead me into daylight

And if each face that turned to watch me pass

Was broken by a smile;

Or if whenever I should choose to lay my heart,

Bare upon the sun warmed grass,

It always returned with tender touches

And carried by a song;

And if my heaviest burden were only to be

A breeze upon my back, and blossom in my hair

And my brow was never crossed with lines of pain;

If all this endless summer were my lot

And winter's fury never beat my back,

Then I never would have seen the stormy nights

Through which I've struggled, fought, & won;

I never would have known the joy of needed comfort given,

Or the essence of a friend.