You can do it!

The other day we were watching tv and an ad came on that caught our attention.  I don't remember what they were advertising, but one of the actors said a piece of an old poem.  Bob asked if I remembered it.
It was a poem his mom had put on the back of a cabinet door in the bathroom where he and his siblings saw it often. A few of them even memorized it.  It's a cute little poem and I think it was pretty smart of his mom to put in a place where the kids would see it and be reminded that you can accomplish quite a bit if you put your mind to it!
Here's the poem.  Have you ever heard this one?

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done

      But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

      Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

      On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

      That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;

      At least no one ever has done it;”

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat

      And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

      Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

      That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

      There are thousands to prophesy failure,

There are thousands to point out to you one by one,

      The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

      Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing

      That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

Edgar Albert Guest