{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/the-three-best-things",
 "title": "The Three Best Things",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 38,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16229",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 42,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 48,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Let me but do my work from day to day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In field or forest, at the desk or loom,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In roaring market-place or tranquil room;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Let me but find it in my heart to say,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of all who live, I am the one by whom",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This work can best be done in the right way.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At eventide, to play and love and rest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Because I know for me my work is best.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Let me but love my love without disguise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor wear a mask of fashion old or new,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor wait to speak till I can hear a clue,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor play a part to shine in others’ eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor bow my knees to what my heart denies;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But what I am, to that let me be true,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And let me worship where my love is due,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And so through love and worship let me rise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For love is but the heart’s immortal thirst",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To be completely known and all forgiven,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Even as sinful souls that enter Heaven:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So take me, dear, and understand my worst,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And freely pardon it, because confessed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And let me find in loving thee, my best.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Let me but live my life from year to year,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With forward face and unreluctant soul;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Not hurrying to, nor turning from, the goal;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Not mourning for the things that disappear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the dim past, nor holding back in fear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From what the future veils; but with a whole",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And happy heart, that pays its toll",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So let the way wind up the hill or down,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O’er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Still seeking what I sought when but a boy,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "New friendship, high adventure, and a crown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My heart will keep the courage of the quest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hope the road’s last turn will be the best.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}