THERE has something gone wrong My brave boy, it appears, For I see your proud struggle To keep back the tears. That is right. When you cannot Give trouble the slip, Then bear it, still keeping "A stiff upper lip!" Though you cannot escape Disappointment and care, The next best thing to do Is to learn how to bear. If when for life's prizes You're running, you trip, Get up, start again -- "Keep a stiff upper lip!" Let your hands and your conscience Be honest and clean; Scorn to touch or to think of The thing that is mean; But hold on to the pure And the right with firm grip, And though hard be the task, "Keep a stiff upper lip!" Through childhood, through manhood, Through life to the end, Struggle bravely and stand By your colors, my friend. Only yield when you must; Never "give up the ship," But fight on to the last "With a stiff upper lip!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BACKGROUND AND DESIGN by KAREN SWENSON ON THE EXPECTED GENERAL RISING OF THE FRENCH NATION IN 1792 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD HYMN TO ADVERSITY by THOMAS GRAY THE DARK-EYED GENTLEMAN by THOMAS HARDY TAPESTRY TREES by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) THE TRIUMPH OF TIME by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE ODE ON THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON by ALFRED TENNYSON |