Taking all care,
With effort and prayer,
To make of this volume a thing pure and fair.

Write in it no record of wrong and of ill
But kindness and courage and deeds of good will.
Let nothing of evil creep stealthily in
To darken the pages with shadows of sing,
But write every day,
As the year goes its way,
Shining thoughts of high worth that will sparkle for aye.

Put in it the splendor and hope of your youth,
Lines of honor and glory and beauty and truth,
Temptations o’ermastered and weakness made strong,
The sunshine of smiles and the blessing of song,
Striving always that not
A mistake or a blot
This beautiful book of the year may bespot.

For this record once written is written for aye,
No time can erase, no repentance gainsay,
With its evil or good, with its joy and its tears,
It is signed and sealed fast by the angle of years.
Then let us take heed,
Since God hath decreed
In eternity’s halls what we’ve written we’ll read.

- The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery