The little men, the dwarfish men, A special chance have they To work with hand or tongue or pen So well that folks may say: "Why, though he is a tiny one, In spirit he is tall, A genuine Napoleon, A Little Corporal!" The awkward men of homely face May cause the world to sing Their lack of beauty and of grace As quite distinguishing: "Behold, a second Lincoln, he A second serfdom frees!" Or: "Sage and ugly, lo! we see A second Socrates!" There's not a weight that holds men down, There's not a pain men bear, There's not an obloquy, a frown, A hindrance or a care, But men have lightly tossed the weight, And lightly borne the woe, And made a friend of hostile fate, And won their kingdom so. Ah, better be the under man And struggle for the top, And do the deed no other can, Begin where others stop, -- Ah, better give the world surprise At great achieved from small, Than start so high that nothing lies Before you but -- a fall! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAN TO BE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON NIGHT AND DAY: 4 by ISAAC ROSENBERG BUCOLIC COMEDY: EARLY SPRING by EDITH SITWELL ON THE TOMBS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY by FRANCIS BEAUMONT LONG ISLAND SOUND by EMMA LAZARUS |