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Life Poems
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Absorb the message of life poems such as this one by Samuel Kiser. No matter what your past failures, you can always begin again tomorrow, which is a completely fresh and new canvas to paint on. "An artist's career," said Whistler, "always begins tomorrow." So does the career of any person of courage and imagination.
| The Eden of such a man does not lie in yesterday. If he has done well, he forgets his achievements and dreams of the big deeds ahead. If he has been thwarted, he forgets his failures and looks forward to vast, sure successes. If fate itself opposes him, he defies it. Here's a little story: Farragut's fleet was forcing an entrance into Mobile Bay. One of the vessels struck something, a terrific explosion followed, the vessel went down. "Torpedoes, sir." They scanned the face of the commander-in-chief. But Farragut did not hesitate. "Damn the torpedoes," said he. "Go ahead." |
Unsubdued
by Samuel Kiser
I have hoped, I have planned, I have striven,
To the will I have added the deed;
The best that was in me I've given,
I have prayed, but the gods would not heed.
I have dared and reached only disaster,
I have battled and broken my lance;
I am bruised by a pitiless master
That the weak and the timid call Chance.
I am old, I am bent, I am cheated
Of all that Youth urged me to win;
But name me not with the defeated,
To-morrow again, I begin.
~S.E. Kiser (1862 - 1942)
Samuel Ellsworth Kiser was born in Shippenville, Pa. He began newspaper work in Cleveland, and from 1900 until 1914 was editorial and special writer for the Chicago Record-Herald. Kiser was noted for his humorous sketches, which had been widely syndicated. Among his books are "Georgie," "Charles the Chauffeur," "Love Sonnets of an Office Boy," "Ballads of the Busy Days," "Sonnets of a Chorus Girl," "The Whole Glad Year," and "The Land of Little Care."
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