Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AN UPHILL FIGHT by MAURICE C. WAUGH

First Line: YOU MAY BE ILL AND YOU MAY BE SORE
Last Line: THAT COMES FROM WINNING AN UPHILL FIGHT.
Subject(s): SICKNESS; STRENGTH; ILLNESS;

You may be ill and you may be sore
With aches and bruises and pains galore;
Perhaps you are groggy, and halt and lame,
But keep right on, for it's all a game
Where like as not you are booked to win
Right now, in spite of the shape you're in.

Your brain is weary, your thoughts are dead,
Each step is heavy as lifting lead;
The sun is under a passing cloud;
Don't let them measure you for a shroud,
But hang on now though it may be hard,
For your next hand holds the winning card.

If you have played at a losing game
Until the colors all look the same,
You'll feel more joy when your luck has turned,
And look on life, which you may have spurned,
Through eyes that glow with the glory light
That comes from winning an uphill fight.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net