I READ the papers every day, and oft encounter tales which show there's hope for every jay who in life's battle fails. I've just been reading of a gent who joined the has-been ranks, at fifty years without a cent, or credit at the banks. But undismayed he buckled down, refusing to be beat, and captured fortune and renown; he's now in Easy street. Men say that fellows down and out ne'er leave the rocky track, but facts will show, beyond a doubt, that has-beens do come back. I know, for I who write this rhyme, when forty-odd years old, was down and out, without a dime, my whiskers full of mold. By black disaster I was trounced until it jarred my spine; I was a failure so pronounced I didn't need a sign. And after I had soaked my coat, I said (at forty-three), "I'll see if I can catch the goat that has escaped from me." I labored hard; I strained my dome, to do my daily grind, until in triumph I came home, my billy-goat behind. And any man who still has health may with the winners stack, and have a chance at fame and wealth—for has-beens do come back. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...O SOUTHLAND! by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1) by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON AN EPITAPH UPON HUSBAND AND WIFE WHO DIED AND WERE BURIED by RICHARD CRASHAW ULYSSES AND THE SIREN by SAMUEL DANIEL PREPARATORY MEDITATIONS, 1ST SERIES: 1 by EDWARD TAYLOR CASTOR AND POLYDEUCES by ALCAEUS OF MYTILENE THE APOLOGY OF THE BISHOPS IN ANSWER TO BONNER'S GHOST by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |