Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BETTER TO CLIMB AND FALL, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BETTER TO CLIMB AND FALL, by                    
First Line: Give me a man with an aim
Last Line: And never to strive at all
Subject(s): Hope; Optimism


GIVE me a man with an aim,
Whatever that aim may be,
Whether it's wealth, or whether it's fame,
It matters not to me.
Let him walk in the path of right,
And keep his aim in sight,
And work and pray in faith alway,
With his eye on the glittering height.

Give me a man who says, --
"I will do something well,
And make the fleeting days
A story of labor tell."
Though the aim he has be small,
It is better than none at all;
With something to do the whole year through
He will not stumble or fall.

But Satan weaves a snare
For the feet of those who stray
With never a thought or care
Where the path may lead away.
The man who has no aim,
Not only leaves no name
When this life is done, but ten to one
He leaves a record of shame.

Give me a man whose heart
Is filled with ambition's fire;
Who sets his mark in the start,
And keeps moving it higher and higher.
Better to die in the strife,
The hands with labor rife,
Than to glide with the stream in an idle dream,
And lead a purposeless life.

Better to strive and climb,
And never reach the goal,
Than to drift along with time,
An aimless, worthless soul.
Ay, better to climb and fall,
Or sow, though the yield be small,
Than to throw away day after day,
And never to strive at all.





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