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Life Poems
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The One walks us through our life, when in youth we envisioned success, prominence, and more. Then life begins, seeming to deal us years of struggles, leaving us baffled and beaten, wondering what happened to our ideal life.
| But we can see that wonderful life lived out by others; they embody our visions and dreams. It is important that we do not envy them or grow jealous of what they have. Don't become disheartened and bitter. Instead, be happy that they have achieved a life of abundance and ease, because that proves that your dreams are not impossible and that you too can achieve what your heart desires most. If it's possible for one person to do it, it's possible for anyone to do it. And that includes you! |
The One
I knew his face the moment that he passed
Triumphant in the thoughtless, cruel throng,--
Triumphant, though the quiet, tired eyes
Showed that his soul had suffered overlong.
And though across his brow faint lines of care
Were etched, somewhat of Youth still lingered there.
I gently touched his arm--he smiled at me--
He was the Man that Once I Meant to Be!
Where I had failed, he'd won from life, Success;
Where I had stumbled, with sure feet he stood;
Alike--yet unalike--we faced the world,
And through the stress he found that life was good
And I? The bitter wormwood in the glass,
The shadowed way along which failures pass!
Yet as I saw him thus, joy came to me--
He was the Man that Once I Meant to Be!
I knew him! And I knew he knew me for
The man HE might have been. Then did his soul
Thank silently the gods that gave him strength
To win, while I so sorely missed the goal?
He turned, and quickly in his own firm hand
He took my own--the gulf of Failure spanned, ...
And that was all--strong, self-reliant, free,
He was the Man that Once I Meant to Be!
We did not speak. But in his sapient eyes
I saw the spirit that had urged him on,
The courage that had held him through the fight
Had once been mine, I thought, "Can it be gone?"
He felt that unasked question--felt it so
His pale lips formed the one-word answer, "No!"
* * * * *
Too late to win? No! Not too late for me--
He is the Man that Still I Mean to Be!
~Everard Jack Appleton (1872 - 1931)
Born at Charleston, West Virginia, Appleton had very little schooling while growing up, but he did have the advantages of home literary influences and a good library to utilize. At the age of seventeen he went into newspaper work in his home town and then later moved on to Cincinnati to work at the Daily Tribune, the Commercial Gazette, and eventually the Cincinnati Times Star, where for five years he wrote a daily column of verse and humor.
Besides his newspaper work, he has written over one hundred and fifty stories, hundreds of poems, many songs, and innumerable jokes, jingles, cheer-up wall cards, and the like. He is the author of two books of poetry, "The Quiet Courage" and "With the Colors." With such intense work during his life, his health broke down and he became a chronic invalid, but his cheer and his faith remained as bright as ever until his death.
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