Good cheer! good cheer! The elemental war
Tells that the blessed healing hour is nigh.

Through frost to spring! And though the biting blast
Of Eurus stiffen nature's juicy veins,
Good cheer! good cheer! When winter's wrath is past,
Soft-murmuring spring breathes sweetly o'er the plains.

Through strife to peace! And though with bristling front
A thousand frightful deaths encompass thee,
Good cheer! good cheer! brave thou the battle's brunt,
For the peace-march and song of victory.

Through toil to sleep! And though the sultry noon
With heavy drooping wing oppress thee now,
Good cheer! good cheer! the cool of evening soon
Shall lull to sweet repose thy weary brow.

Through cross to crown! And though thy spirit's life
Trials untold assail with giant strength,
Good cheer! good cheer! soon ends the bitter strife,
And thou shalt reign in peace with Christ at length.

Through woe to joy! And though at morn thou weep,
And though the midnight find thee weeping still,
Good cheer! good cheer! the Shepherd loves his sheep;
Resign thee to the watchful Father's will.

--Rosegarten, tr. by Charles Timothy Brooks.

Talk Happiness. The world is sad enough
Without your woes. No path is wholly rough;
Look for the places that are smooth and clear,
And speak of those to rest the weary ear
Of earth, so hurt by one continuous strain
Of human discontent and grief and pain.

SERVE GOD AND BE CHEERFUL

Serve God and be cheerful. Make brighter
The brightness that falls to thy lot;
The rare, or the daily sent, blessing
Profane not with gloom or with doubt.

Serve God and be cheerful. Each sorrow
Is--with thy will in God's--for the best.
O'er the cloud hangs the rainbow. To-morrow
Will see the blue sky in the west.

Serve God and be cheerful. Look upward!
God's countenance scatters the gloom;
And the soft summer light of his heaven
Shines over the cross and the tomb.

Serve God and be cheerful. The wrinkles
Of age we may take with a smile;
But the wrinkles of faithless foreboding
Are the crow's-feet of Beelzebub's guile.

Serve God and be cheerful. The winter
Rolls round to the beautiful spring.
And o'er the green grave of the snowdrift
The nest-building robins will sing.

Serve Go