In the famous naval duel between the Bonhomme
Richard and the Serapis, John Paul Jones was hailed by his adversary to know
whether he struck his colors. "I have not yet begun to fight," was
his answer. When the surrender took place, it was not Jones's ship that became
the prize of war. Everybody admires a hard fighter—the man who takes buffets
standing up, and in a spirit of "Never say die" is always ready for
more.
When you're lost in the
wild and you're scared as a child,
And death looks you
bang in the eye;
And you're sore as a boil, it's
according to Hoyle
To cock your revolver
and die.
But the code of a man says fight all
you can,
And self-dissolution
is barred;
In hunger and woe, oh it's easy to
blow—
It's the hell served
for breakfast that's hard.
You're sick of the
game? Well now, that's a shame!
You're young and
you're brave and you're bright.
You've had a raw deal, I know, but
don't squeal.
Buck up, do your
damnedest and fight!
It's the plugging away that will
win you the day,
So don't be a piker,
old pard;
Just draw on your grit; it's so
easy to quit—
It's the keeping your
chin up that's hard.
It's easy to cry that you're
beaten and die,
It's easy to crawfish
and crawl,
But to fight and to fight when
hope's out of sight,
Why, that's the best
game of them all.
And though you come out of each
grueling bout,
All broken and beaten
and scarred—
Just have one more try. It's dead
easy to die,
It's the keeping on
living that's hard.
Robert W. Service. From "Rhymes of a
Rolling Stone."
Taken from: It Can Be Done/Poems of Inspiration
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