SOMEBODY spoke a cheering word, <br />Somebody praised his labor, <br />And something deep in his soul was stirred, <br />That night he smiled at his neighbor. <br />He kissed his wife with a hearty smack, <br />He rode the children upon his back <br />And he sang a tuneful ditty, <br />'Ho, ho,' he cried to his patient wife, <br />'I vow that never in all my life <br />Have I seen you look so pretty.' <br /> <br />Then into her eyes the love light crept, <br />A smile on her face appeared, <br />She hummed a song as the room she swept, <br />And the children tugged his beard. <br />He told them stories of fairies good, <br />Of pixies out in the distant wood, <br />And the sailors on the sea; <br />And there was a family made gay <br />Just because somebody chanced to say <br />One little word cheerfully. <br /> <br />And nobody knows how far it went, <br />And nobody here can say <br />When the morning came and he bravely went <br />To his labors for the day, <br />How much of the courage he showed was due <br />To the smile and the cheering word or two; <br />But this we know, anyhow, <br />That he climbed the ladder to wealth and fame, <br />And a cheering word may do the same<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/somebody-spoke-a-cheering-word/
