Poems (Trask)/Courage

by Clara Augusta Jones Trask

COURAGE.

Keep up your courage, friend,
 Nor falter on the track;
Look up, toil bravely on,
 And scorn to languish back.
A true heart rarely fails to win,—
 A will can make a way;
The darkest night will yield at last
 Unto the perfect day.

See yonder little flower
 You've crushed beneath your tread,
The sunshine and the shower
 Beat on its bended head;
Though bowed it is not broke:
 It rises up again,
And sheds a sweet perfume across
 The arid desert plain.

Then like the tender flower
 Be ye, oh, weary man!
In countless ways God blesseth you,—
 Deny it if you can.
You've love to cheer your heart,
 You've strength, and gracious health;
For these full many a lordly peer
 Would gladly yield his wealth.

Never despair! it kills the life,
 And digs an early grave;
The man who rails so much at Fate
 But makes himself her slave.
Up! rouse ye to the work!
 Resolve to victory gain;
And hopes shall rise, and bear rich fruit,
 Which long in dust have lain.