The rarest picture Art has ever given,
On which the studied light has ever played,
Is made of these two simple gifts from heaven
A little sunshine and a little shade.
The grandest day that ever lent its story
To the long scroll the hand of Time has made;
What is the fair effulgence of its glory?
A little sunshine and a little shade.
The greatest life the world has ever cherished,
The memory that lives while others fade,
Is only this when its brief day has perished
A little sunshine and a little shade!