NOTABLE DILIGENCE
When I was young everything was hard work for me,
Study long and very hard and still get only a B or C,
I tried not to get discouraged for I had done my best,
Though I thought it unfair no studiers past the test.
‘She tries hard and works well’ report cards used to say,
Yet only once I remember getting that great illusive A,
I never used to take notice what prize receivers ever did
For the reward of getting a prize, from me it was always hid.
Yet one year sitting with the choir waiting to sing a song,
I heard my name called over that assembly’s great throng,
‘Notable diligence the most coveted prize was for me.
Then I knew that my dear teachers all my efforts did see.
‘Never give up trying,’ said the prize giver from university,
‘For your hard work will one day set your mind quite free,
Study and learn, go on trying your whole life through,
Then one day many people will look up and admire you.’
I am glad that I had to work hard to achieve everything,
For it gave me an inner strength that only diligence can bring,
A stick at it attitude helped me grow in a special kind of way,
It helped make me the type of person that I am now today.
(Millicent) Ann Margetson 5 September 2004