Do the next thing that is next

My dear friend ,who I teach with,
used this poem as part of a
graduation speech on Friday night:

The First Proclamation
by Margaret Preston

"Ho, Rose!" quoth the stout Miles Standish,
as he stood on the Mayflower's deck.....

"What say you to landing , sweetheart,
And having a washing-day?"

"Dear heart"--and the sweet Rose Standish
Looked up with a tear in her eye;
She was back in the flag-stoned kitchen
Where she watched, in the days gone by;

Her mother among her maidens
(She should watch them no more, alas!)
And saw as they stretched the linen
To bleach on the Suffolk grass.

.........
"Do the thing that is next,"saith the proverb,
And a nobler shall yet succeed:
'Tis the motive exalts the action;
'Tis the doing, and not the deed;

From the earliest act of the heroes
Whose fame has a world-wide sway
Was --- to fashion a crane for a kettle,
And order a washing day!

Going through my mind: Do the
thing that is next! Today that
is laundry and weeding!