If  you  can't be a pine on the top of the hill

Be a scrub in the valley--

But be the best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

 

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway some happier make;

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass --

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

 

We can't all be captains,we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here .

There's big work to do and there's lesser to do,

And the task we must do is the near.

 

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail--

Be the best of whatever you are!

                                                                                 ___Douglass Malloch