Count That Day Lost 

By: George Eliot

Listen

set of sun غروب الشمس              heard سمع                  lost ضائع

count يعد – يحصي                     kind لطيف

acts أعمال                              sunshine شعاع الشمس      soul روح

find يَجِد

self-denying deed عمل فيه تضحية                                 May من الممكن

deed عمل, فعل                   through خلال                     cheered هتف

eased هوًّن, سهَّل              cost يكلف, تكلفة            brought (bring) احضر

Heart قلب

 glance لمحة                    fell سقط        yea نعم        nay لا

trace يقتفي أثر ؛ يتعقب            poem قصيدة شعر     poet شاعر                  reader قارئ                      worse أسوأ

Count That Day Lost

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went —
Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,
You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay —
If, through it all
You’ve nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face–
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost —
Then count that day as worse than lost.

If you sit down at set of sun   A
And count the acts that you have done,   A
And, counting, find   B
One self-denying deed, one word    C
That eased the heart of him who heard,   C
One glance most kind  B
That fell like sunshine where it went —    D
Then you may count that day well spent. D

the second stanza

But if, through all the livelong day,   E
You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay —  E
If, through it all   F
You’ve nothing done that you can trace  G
That brought the sunshine to one face—  G
No act most small  F
That helped some soul and nothing cost — H
Then count that day as worse than lost.   H

Ryhme Scheme: AABCCBDD   EEFGGFHH

HOTs : compare and contrast

similarities:

1. each stanza describes a day
2. In both stanzas we count our deeds at the end of the day, at set of sun
3. each stanza consists of 8 lines
4. Each stanza opens with a conditional
5. Both stanzas have the same rhyming scheme AABCCBDD   EEFGGFHH

Differences:

1. the first stanza is about doing at least one good deed every day that will  make your day worthwhile.
2. The second stanza talks about a day in which you don’t do anything helpful for others. The outcome is that your day will be wasted and even worse than lost.
3. The rhymes themselves are different.