 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
TAKE A FRESH HOLD.
Out in the orchard two boys were trying
If they could rise to a limb breast-high;
Up went the younger, but dropped the other,
Shame at his failure dimming his eye.
Looked at him quickly the smaller in wonder,
Scorning a little the quivering lip,
Asking: “What's up, and why couldn't you do it?”
Answered his comrade: “I lost my grip.”
Rudely and knowingly spake the younger—
He was a sage with years just ten—
“Lost your grip, have you? What if you've lost it?
Take a fresh hold, and try it again.”
If they could rise to a limb breast-high;
Up went the younger, but dropped the other,
Shame at his failure dimming his eye.
Looked at him quickly the smaller in wonder,
Scorning a little the quivering lip,
Asking: “What's up, and why couldn't you do it?”
Answered his comrade: “I lost my grip.”
405
He was a sage with years just ten—
“Lost your grip, have you? What if you've lost it?
Take a fresh hold, and try it again.”
Young philosopher, pert and fearless,
Facing the moment and filled with force,
Old-time Greek in your style and manner,
Made for doing, strong, rugged and coarse,
Scorn of the weakness whose grip relaxes,
If it once fail the top to attain,
Yet may bring you to any station
Young ambition may seek to gain,
Words you have spoken, though rude and common,
Furnish a lesson to bearded men,
Telling them, after every failure:
“Take a fresh hold, and try it again.”
Facing the moment and filled with force,
Old-time Greek in your style and manner,
Made for doing, strong, rugged and coarse,
Scorn of the weakness whose grip relaxes,
If it once fail the top to attain,
Yet may bring you to any station
Young ambition may seek to gain,
Words you have spoken, though rude and common,
Furnish a lesson to bearded men,
Telling them, after every failure:
“Take a fresh hold, and try it again.”
There is the spirit which makes Columbus
Travel through many a land to Spain;
Spurned by one monarch, he sues to another,
Keeping his purpose through want and pain.
Proud success in the far-off future,
Realms unknown in the west he sees:
Monk and noble cannot dissuade him;
Courage is stronger than words of these.
Driven away with jeers and laughter;
Branded with heresy, scorned of men;
Losing his grip, nor fears nor falters,
Takes a fresh hold and tries it again.
Travel through many a land to Spain;
Spurned by one monarch, he sues to another,
Keeping his purpose through want and pain.
Proud success in the far-off future,
Realms unknown in the west he sees:
Monk and noble cannot dissuade him;
Courage is stronger than words of these.
Driven away with jeers and laughter;
Branded with heresy, scorned of men;
Losing his grip, nor fears nor falters,
Takes a fresh hold and tries it again.
Such was the lesson that Bruce, the kingly,
Sovereign of whom the Scotsmen boast,
Caught from a sight in the grim old castle,
Out in Rathlin, on the Irish coast.
Overburdened, the toiling spider
Six times striving the wall to ascend,
Losing her grip, but nowise undaunted,
Found her triumph achieved in the end.
Sick with his failure, the sight aroused him;
Forth he went to the battle then;
Firm of heart through the spider's teaching,
Took a fresh hold and tried it again.
Sovereign of whom the Scotsmen boast,
Caught from a sight in the grim old castle,
Out in Rathlin, on the Irish coast.
406
Six times striving the wall to ascend,
Losing her grip, but nowise undaunted,
Found her triumph achieved in the end.
Sick with his failure, the sight aroused him;
Forth he went to the battle then;
Firm of heart through the spider's teaching,
Took a fresh hold and tried it again.
Man of the present, example homely
Surely it is better than none at all;
If you would stand on the height above you,
Climb once more when you chance to fall.
Feel no fear if you fail for the moment,
Time and patience will carry the day;
Weighted with poverty, met by rivals,
Trying and trying will win their way.
Clouded the heavens your pathway over,
Rising around you the jeers of men,
Stop not for bruises; at every tumble
Take a fresh hold and try it again.
Surely it is better than none at all;
If you would stand on the height above you,
Climb once more when you chance to fall.
Feel no fear if you fail for the moment,
Time and patience will carry the day;
Weighted with poverty, met by rivals,
Trying and trying will win their way.
Clouded the heavens your pathway over,
Rising around you the jeers of men,
Stop not for bruises; at every tumble
Take a fresh hold and try it again.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |