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 make some highway happier;

If you can’t be a musky 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 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! — Douglas Malloch