Street art work in Victoria, BC Canada
It Couldn’t Be Done
by Edgar Albert Guest
(click to listen)
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 to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
Recited by: Suzanna Alsayed
Yes, it can be done! VSB schools who will be participating in the Poetry in Voice competition are David Thompson, Magee, Churchill, Templeton and Killarney.
Photographs and Memories 
Can’t is negative. God is positive. So there.
Fantastic! Great idea!! 🙂
Yes, yes, yes!
This is truly one of my all-time favourites. And one of the first poems I memorized years ago. Love it!! Thanks so much for sharing it, and with an option to listen as well. Hugs, Gina
HI Gina: My pleasure. It’s a great poem and I put a link if you want to see the animated action she did during recitation. I love the title because it can be done! Pax. Perpetua.
I enjoyed that. Thank you.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Ken. You’re welcome.
Thanks for tagging Poetry In Voice! Van Tech, Prince of Wales, Eric Hamber, and Gladstone are participating too.
My pleasure. Do you know the students who will be performing at the VSB level? If you want, I can blog about them. I am so proud of these budding poets.
the word can’t does not exist in the world of God, it just exists in the minds of those who don’t try, amen, great words
Amen.
Cheers to schools promoting poetry! 🙂
Andy, These students are so good. I listened to the voices and they are incredible. Thank you.
It always brings me a smile to see schools going in the right direction, I recently butted heads with my kid’s school principal and had to go through the VSB to settle it :S