Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul. Various
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But alas! for the truth when the word comes later,
With questioned steps, to sustain the deed.
—John Boyle O'Reilly.
———
Stand upright, speak thy thought, declare
The truth thou hast that all may share;
Be bold, proclaim it everywhere;
They only live who dare.
—Lewis Morris.
———
There is no duty patent in the world
Like daring try be good and true myself,
Leaving the shows of things to the Lord of show
And Prince o' the power of the air.
—Robert Browning.
———
Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.
—Aaron Hill (1685–1750).
———
On the red rampart's slippery swell,
With heart that beat a charge, he fell
Foeward, as fits a man;
But the high soul burns on to light men's feet
Where death for noble ends makes dying sweet.
—James Russell Lowell.
———
I do not ask that Thou shalt front the fray.
And drive the warring foeman from my sight:
I only ask, O Lord, by night, by day,
Strength for the fight!
———
No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere;
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.
—Emily Brontë.
———
You will find that luck
Is only pluck
To try things over and over;
Patience and skill,
Courage and will,
Are the four leaves of luck's clover.
———
The chivalry
That dares the right and disregards alike
The yea and nay o' the world.
—Robert Browning.
———
God has his best things for the few
Who dare to stand the test;
He has his second choice for those
Who will not have his best.
———
Dare to be true; nothing can need a lie;
A fault which needs it most grows two thereby.
—George Herbert.
INDEPENDENCE
MANHOOD, FIRMNESS, EARNESTNESS, RESOLUTION
WANTED
God give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor—men who will not lie.
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland.
———
TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE
By thine own soul's law learn to live,
And if men thwart thee take no heed;
And if men hate thee have no care;
Sing thou thy song, and do thy deed;
Hope thou thy hope, and pray thy prayer,
And claim no crown they will not give,
Nor bays they grudge thee for thy hair.
Keep thou thy soul-won, steadfast oath,
And to thy heart be true thy heart;
What thy soul teaches learn to know,
And play out thine appointed part,
And thou shalt reap as thou shalt sow,
Nor helped nor hardened in thy growth,
To thy full stature thou shalt grow.
Fix on the future's goal thy face,
And let thy feet be lured to stray
Nowhither, but be swift to run,
And nowhere tarry by the way,
Until at last the end is won,
And thou mayst look back from thy place
And see thy long day's journey done.
—Pakenham Beatty.
———
LORD OF HIMSELF
How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armor is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill.
Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death;
Not tied unto the world with care
Of public fame or private breath.
Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Or vice; who never understood
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