Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OPPORTUNITY TALKS, by WILLIAM J. LAMPTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OPPORTUNITY TALKS, by                    
First Line: Yes / I am opportunity
Last Line: Opportunity.
Subject(s): Opportunity


YES,
I am Opportunity;
But, say, young man,
Don't wait for me
To come to you;
You buckle down
To win your crown,
And work with head
And heart and hands,
As does the man
Who understands
That those who wait,
Expecting some reward from fate,
Or luck, to call it so, —
Sit always in the 'way-back row.
And yet
You must not let
Me get away when I show up;
The golden cup
Is not for him who stands,
With folded hands,
Expecting me
To serve his inactivity.
I serve the active mind,
The seeing eye,
The ready hand
That me passing by,
And takes from me
The good I hold
For every spirit
Strong and bold.
He does not wait
On fate
Who seizes me,
For I am fortune,
Luck, and fate,
The corner-stone
Of what is great
In man's accomplishment,
But I am none of these
To him who does not seize;
I must be caught,
If any good is wrought
Out of the treasures I possess.
Oh, yes,
I'm Opportunity;
I'm great;
I'm sometimes late,
But do not wait
For me;
Work on,
Watch on,
Good hands, good heart,
And some day you will see —
Out of your effort rising —
Opportunity.





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