Any little word poem

If any little word of ours
—Can make one life the brighter;
If any little song of ours
—Can make one heart the lighter;
God help us speak that little word,
—And take our bit of singing
And drop it in some lonely vale
—To set the echoes ringing.

If any little love of ours
—Can make one life the sweeter;
If any little care of ours
—Can make one step the fleeter;
If any little help may ease
—The burden of another;
God give us love and care and strength
—To help along each other.

If any little thought of ours
—Can make one life the stronger;
If any cheery smile of ours
—Can make its brightness longer;
Then let us speak that thought today,
—With tender eyes aglowing,
So God may grant some weary one
—Shall reap from our glad sowing.

If any little word of ours
—Can make one life the brighter;
If any little song of ours
—Can make one heart the lighter;
God help us speak that little word,
—And take our bit of singing
And drop it in some lonely vale
—To set the echoes ringing.

If any little love of ours
—Can make one life the sweeter;
If any little care of ours
—Can make one step the fleeter;
If any little help may ease
—The burden of another;
God give us love and care and strength
—To help along each other.

If any little thought of ours
—Can make one life the stronger;
If any cheery smile of ours
—Can make its brightness longer;
Then let us speak that thought today,
—With tender eyes aglowing,
So God may grant some weary one
—Shall reap from our glad sowing.

How do you say sorrry at the end of the day, even though you know that its not enough. You’ve had plenty of chances already to say sorry. You even know that saying it wont change a thing, how do
you make it meaningful…

 
 Sorry for all the things I’ve said
 Sorry for all the things I should have said but ended up saying something else
 Sorry for all the unfinished conversations, the emotions running free in the wind
 Sorry for all those times when I should have said it but didn’t
 Sorry for all the chances that i missed
 Sorry.

 
You can say sorry all day and the word and its meaning only gets disfigured until you are left wondering what does Sorry actually mean?. What does Sorry actually do?. Is it supposed to
make up for all the loose ends that you have left untied? Is it supposed to make you feel better, healed after all the insults and word-abuse you have endured? Is it supposed to bring two
completely different people back together? In a sense yes, in a sense no. Sorry is what you make it.

 
Sorry, isn’t going to work this time. Sorry isn’t going to solve all problems when your lost and your best friend is dead. Sorry isn’t going to make up for all the hurt you caused. Not this
time.

Read and Rate these Classic Children’s Poems

Here are the most recently added classic children’s poems for you to read and rate. I post more classic poems regularly, so please check back often. Have fun!

Most Popular Classic Poems

Right now, these are the most popular classic children’s poems on the website, as rated by you! These will change as you rate more poems!

Lots of Classic Poems…

And here are a whole lot more classic children’s poems. These poems are also ranked by popularity (with the most popular ones at the top), so don’t be surprised if they change position when you rate them.

Read them all? Want more? Click here for hundreds more funny poems.

Here’s a collection of beautiful inspirational poems especially handpicked to move and improve your mood and your life.

Many of these are beloved timeless classic pieces that’s been enjoyed by readers through the ages. Each of these poems brings to our awareness, wisdom and a meaningful message.

Please don’t hurry through reading them. If you can, slowly read and reread each poem. It’s even better if you can take a few minutes to ponder about each poem to see what new ideas, insights or perspectives you can take away with you. You can bookmark this page for this purpose.

We already share the collection on Love Poems for Her, Touching Missing You Poems and Forgiveness Poems. Now time to share best uplifting, inspiring poems. I hope you’ll be inspired, find meaning and come to love these beautiful motivational poems!

All Time Best Inspirational Poems

Poetry is a method of expression that uses specific words, their meaning or interpretation and rhythm to deliver exciting and imaginative ideas as well as evoke emotional actions and reactions. Inspirational poetry has the potential to provide you with insightful advice as well as encourage you, strengthen your resolve, motivate you to succeed, and even give you direction and clarity when your hope is shaken. There are oceans of poetry in different forms, length, from different time periods and written from varying perspectives.

The list of most inspirational poems:

1. If by Rudyard Kipling
2. Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas
3. Hope is the thing with feathers (254) by Emily Dickinson
4. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
5. Still I Rise By Maya Angelou
6. The Invitation By Oriah Mountain Dreamer
7. Invictus By William Ernest Henley
8. The Charge Of The Light Brigade By Alfred Tennyson
9. Do It Anyway By Mother Teresa
10. Thinking By Walter D. Wintle
11. Dreams By Langston Hughes
12. Caged Bird By Maya Angelou
13. In Spite of War By Angela Morgan
14. Ekla Chalo Re’ by Rabindranath Tagore

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Hope is the thing with feathers (254) by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Still I Rise By Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

The Invitation By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesnt interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Invictus By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The Charge Of The Light Brigade By Alfred Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Do It Anyway By Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Thinking By Walter D. Wintle

If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you don’t,
If you like to win, but you think you can’t
It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!

Dreams By Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Caged Bird By Maya Angelou

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

In Spite of War By Angela Morgan

In spite of war, in spite of death,
In spite of all man’s sufferings,
Something within me laughs and sings
And I must praise with all my breath.
In spite of war, in spite of hate
Lilacs are blooming at my gate,
Tulips are tripping down the path
In spite of war, in spite of wrath.
“Courage!” the morning-glory saith;
“Rejoice!” the daisy murmureth,
And just to live is so divine
When pansies lift their eyes to mine.

The clouds are romping with the sea,
And flashing waves call back to me
That naught is real but what is fair,
That everywhere and everywhere
A glory liveth through despair.
Though guns may roar and cannon boom,
Roses are born and gardens bloom;
My spirit still may light its flame
At that same torch whence poppies came.
Where morning’s altar whitely burns
Lilies may lift their silver urns
In spite of war, in spite of shame.

And in my ear a whispering breath,
“Wake from the nightmare! Look and see
That life is naught but ecstasy
In spite of war, in spite of death!”

Ekla Chalo Re’ by Rabindranath Tagore

If they answer not to thy call walk alone
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou unlucky one,
open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou unlucky one,
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou unlucky one,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart,
and let it burn alone.

Uplifting Poems to Lift Your Spirit

I hope these inspirational poems will brighten your mood and lift your spirit in trying times by giving you the hope to move on forward. Here are my favorite uplifting poems:

1. Character of the Happy Warrior By William Wordsworth
2. Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
3. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
4. Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare
5. My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is by Sir Edward Dyer
6. Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
7. Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

Character of the Happy Warrior By William Wordsworth

Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he
That every man in arms should wish to be?
—It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought
Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought:
Whose high endeavours are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright;
Who, with a natural instinct to discern
What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;
Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,
But makes his moral being his prime care;
Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,
And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!
Turns his necessity to glorious gain;
In face of these doth exercise a power
Which is our human nature’s highest dower:
Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves
Of their bad influence, and their good receives:
By objects, which might force the soul to abate
Her feeling, rendered more compassionate;
Is placable—because occasions rise
So often that demand such sacrifice;
More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,
As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.
—’Tis he whose law is reason; who depends
Upon that law as on the best of friends;
Whence, in a state where men are tempted still
To evil for a guard against worse ill,
And what in quality or act is best
Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,
He labours good on good to fix, and owes
To virtue every triumph that he knows:
—Who, if he rise to station of command,
Rises by open means; and there will stand
On honourable terms, or else retire,
And in himself possess his own desire;
Who comprehends his trust, and to the same
Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;
And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait
For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state;
Whom they must follow; on whose head must fall,
Like showers of manna, if they come at all:
Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,
Or mild concerns of ordinary life,
A constant influence, a peculiar grace;
But who, if he be called upon to face
Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined
Great issues, good or bad for human kind,
Is happy as a Lover; and attired
With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;
And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw;
Or if an unexpected call succeed,
Come when it will, is equal to the need:
—He who, though thus endued as with a sense
And faculty for storm and turbulence,
Is yet a Soul whose master-bias leans
To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;
Sweet images! which, wheresoe’er he be,
Are at his heart; and such fidelity
It is his darling passion to approve;
More brave for this, that he hath much to love:—
‘Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,
Conspicuous object in a Nation’s eye,
Or left unthought-of in obscurity,—
Who, with a toward or untoward lot,
Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not—
Plays, in the many games of life, that one
Where what he most doth value must be won:
Whom neither shape or danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray;
Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpast:
Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth
For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,
Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,
And leave a dead unprofitable name—
Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause:
This is the happy Warrior; this is he
That every man in arms should wish to be.

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is by Sir Edward Dyer

My mind to me a kingdom is;
Such present joys therein I find,
That it excels all other bliss
That earth affords or grows by kind:
Though much I want that most would have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

No princely pomp, no wealthy store,
No force to win the victory,
No wily wit to salve a sore,
No shape to feed a loving eye;
To none of these I yield as thrall;
For why? my mind doth serve for all.

I see how plenty surfeits oft,
And hasty climbers soon do fall;
I see that those which are aloft
Mishap doth threaten most of all:
They get with toil, they keep with fear:
Such cares my mind could never bear.

Content I live, this is my stay;
I seek no more than may suffice;
I press to bear no haughty sway;
Look, what I lack my mind supplies.
Lo, thus I triumph like a king,
Content with that my mind doth bring.

Some have too much, yet still do crave;
I little have, and seek no more.
They are but poor, though much they have,
And I am rich with little store;
They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I leave; they pine, I live.

I laugh not at another’s loss,
I grudge not at another’s gain;
No worldly waves my mind can toss;
My state at one doth still remain:
I fear no foe, I fawn no friend;
I loathe not life, nor dread my end.

Some weigh their pleasure by their lust,
Their wisdom by their rage of will;
Their treasure is their only trust,
A cloakèd craft their store of skill;
But all the pleasure that I find
Is to maintain a quiet mind.

My wealth is health and perfect ease,
My conscience clear my chief defence;
I neither seek by bribes to please,
Nor by deceit to breed offence:
Thus do I live; thus will I die;
Would all did so as well as I!

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

Motivational Poems

There is no doubt that these inspirational poems will change your perspective and encourage meaningful change in your life. Here are most motivational poems:

1. Coming by Philip Larkin
2. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
3. A Center by Ha Jin
4. Small Wire by Anne Sexton
5. Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath
6. A Woman Speaks by Aurde Lorde
7. You Cannot Change by Brian Tracy
8. Count Your Blessings

Coming by Philip Larkin

On longer evenings,
Light, chill and yellow,
Bathes the serene
Foreheads of houses.
A thrush sings,
Laurel-surrounded
In the deep bare garden,
Its fresh-peeled voice
Astonishing the brickwork.
It will be spring soon,
It will be spring soon—
And I, whose childhood
Is a forgotten boredom,
Feel like a child
Who comes on a scene
Of adult reconciling,
And can understand nothing
But the unusual laughter,
And starts to be happy.

Ariel by Sylvia Plath

Stasis in darkness.
Then the substanceless blue
Pour of tor and distances.

God’s lioness,
How one we grow,
Pivot of heels and knees!—The furrow

Splits and passes, sister to
The brown arc
Of the neck I cannot catch,

Nigger-eye
Berries cast dark
Hooks—

Black sweet blood mouthfuls,
Shadows.
Something else

Hauls me through air—
Thighs, hair;
Flakes from my heels.

White
Godiva, I unpeel—
Dead hands, dead stringencies.

And now I
Foam to wheat, a glitter of seas.
The child’s cry

Melts in the wall.
And I
Am the arrow,

The dew that flies
Suicidal, at one with the drive
Into the red

Eye, the cauldron of morning.

A Center by Ha Jin

You must hold your quiet center,
where you do what only you can do.
If others call you a maniac or a fool,
just let them wag their tongues.
If some praise your perseverance,
don’t feel too happy about it—
only solitude is a lasting friend.

You must hold your distant center.
Don’t move even if earth and heaven quake.
If others think you are insignificant,
that’s because you haven’t held on long enough.
As long as you stay put year after year,
eventually you will find a world
beginning to revolve around you.

Small Wire by Anne Sexton

My faith
is a great weight
hung on a small wire,
as doth the spider
hang her baby on a thin web,
as doth the vine,
twiggy and wooden,
hold up grapes
like eyeballs,
as many angels

dance on the head of a pin.

God does not need
too much wire to keep Him there,
just a thin vein,
with blood pushing back and forth in it,
and some love.
As it has been said:
Love and a cough
cannot be concealed.

Even a small cough.
Even a small love.
So if you have only a thin wire,
God does not mind.
He will enter your hands
as easily as ten cents used to
bring forth a Coke.

Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot’s in the door.

A Woman Speaks by Aurde Lorde

Moon marked and touched by sun
my magic is unwritten
but when the sea turns back
it will leave my shape behind.
I seek no favor
untouched by blood
unrelenting as the curse of love
permanent as my errors
or my pride
I do not mix
love with pity
nor hate with scorn
and if you would know me
look into the entrails of Uranus
where the restless oceans pound.

I do not dwell
within my birth nor my divinities
who am ageless and half-grown
and still seeking
my sisters
witches in Dahomey
wear me inside their coiled cloths
as our mother did
mourning.

I have been woman
for a long time
beware my smile
I am treacherous with old magic
and the noon’s new fury
with all your wide futures
promised
I am
woman
and not white.

You Cannot Change by Brian Tracy

You cannot change the world,
But you can present the world with one improved person – Yourself.

You can go to work on yourself to make yourself
Into the kind of person you admire and respect.
You can become a role model and set a standard for others.
You can control and discipline yourself to resist acting
Or speaking in a negative way toward anyone for any reason.
You can insist upon always doing things the loving way,
Rather than the hurtful way.
By doing these things each day, you can continue on your journey
Toward becoming an exceptional human being.

Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.

Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.

Count your health instead of your wealth;
Love your neighbor as much as yourself.

When I feel like giving up, these inspirational poems give me courage I need. That’s why I believe that nothing can break you once you read these short inspirational poems:

1. Hope by Langston Hughes
2. Before I Leave The Stage by Alice Walker
3. Elegy by Mong-Lan
4. If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking by Emily Dickinson
5. Being Independent by Rupi Kaur
6. i am water by Rupi Kaur

Hope by Langston Hughes

Sometimes when I’m lonely,
Don’t know why,
Keep thinkin’ I won’t be lonely
By and by.

Before I Leave The Stage by Alice Walker

Before I leave the stage
I will sing the only song
I was meant truly to sing.

It is the song
of I AM.
Yes: I am Me
&
You.
WE ARE.

I love Us with every drop
of our blood
every atom of our cells
our waving particles
-undaunted flags of our Being-
neither here nor there.

Elegy by Mong-Lan

& what if hope crashes through the door what if
that lasts a somersault?
hope for serendipity
even if a series of meals were all between us
even if the aeons lined up out
of order
what are years if not measured by trees

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking by Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

Being Independent by Rupi Kaur

I do not want to have you
To fill the empty parts of me.
I want to be full on my own.
I want to be so complete
I could light a whole city
And then
I want to have you
Cause the two of us combined
Could set it on fire.

i am water by Rupi Kaur

i am water

soft enough

to offer life

tough enough

to drown it away

Positive Poems

I am sure that these inspirational quotes will brighten your mood and remind you to always going forward, never going back. Hope you enjoy these positive poems:

1. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me By Maya Angelou
2. At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi
3. Embracing All
4. The Art Room by Shara McCallum
5. Less Afraid
6. It Takes Courage

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me By Maya Angelou

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all

Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.

That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.

Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.

I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Like the horn you played in Catholic school
the city will open its mouth and cry

out. Don’t worry ’bout nothing. Don’t mean
no thing. It will leave you stunned

as a fighter with his eyes swelled shut
who’s told he won the whole damn purse.

It will feel better than any floor
that’s risen up to meet you. It will rise

like Easter bread, golden and familiar
in your grandmother’s hands. She’ll come back,

heaven having been too far from home
to hold her. O it will be beautiful.

Every girl will ask you to dance and the boys
won’t kill you for it. Shake your head.

Dance until your bones clatter. What a prize
you are. What a lucky sack of stars.

Embracing All

Light that lies deep inside of me
Come forth in all thy majesty
Show me thy gaze
Teach me thy ways
That I a better person may be

Darkness that lies deep inside of me
Come forth in all thy mystery
Show me thy gaze
Teach me thy ways
That I a better person may be

Love that lies deep inside of me
Come forth in all thy unity
Let me be thy gaze
Let me teach thy ways
That I a better person may be

The Art Room by Shara McCallum

Because we did not have threads
of turquoise, silver, and gold,
we could not sew a sun nor sky.
And our hands became balls of fire.
And our arms spread open like wings.

Because we had no chalk or pastels,
no toad, forest, or morning-grass slats
of paper, we had no colour
for creatures. So we squatted
and sprang, squatted and sprang.

Four young girls, plaits heavy
on our backs, our feet were beating
drums, drawing rhythms from the floor;
our mouths became woodwinds;
our tongues touched teeth and were reeds.

Less Afraid

And then I realized
that to be
more alive
I had to
be less
afraid
so
I did it…
I lost my
fear
and gained
my whole life.

It Takes Courage

It takes strength to be firm,
It takes courage to be gentle.

It takes strength to conquer,
It takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to be certain,
It takes courage to have doubt.

It takes strength to fit in,
It takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain,
It takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to endure abuse,
It takes courage to stop it.

It takes strength to stand alone,
It takes courage to lean on another.

It takes strength to love,
It takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive,
It takes courage to live.

Famous Inspirational Poems about Life

These inspirational poems have the power to change your attitude about life and encourage you to take a new perspective. Here are most famous inspirational poems about life:

1. Good Timber by Douglas Malloch
2. Have You Earned Your Tomorrow by Edgar Guest
3. Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson
4. It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar Guest
5. Help Yourself To Happiness by Helen Steiner Rice
6. The Guest House by Rumi

Good Timber by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

Have You Earned Your Tomorrow by Edgar Guest

Is anybody happier because you passed his way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
This day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?

Did you give a cheerful greeting to the friend who came along?
Or a churlish sort of “Howdy” and then vanish in the throng?
Were you selfish pure and simple as you rushed along the way,
Or is someone mighty grateful for a deed you did today?

Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that’s slipping fast,
That you helped a single brother of the many that you passed?
Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said;
Does a man whose hopes were fading now with courage look ahead?

Did you waste the day, or lose it, was it well or sorely spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent?
As you close your eyes in slumber do you think that God would say,
You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today?

Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

Help Yourself To Happiness by Helen Steiner Rice

Difficult because we think that happiness is found
Only in the places where wealth and fame abound.
And so we go on searching in palaces of pleasure
Seeking recognition and monetary treasure,
Unaware that happiness is just a state of mind
Within the reach of everyone who takes time to be kind.
For in making others happy we will be happy, too.
For the happiness you give away returns to shine on you.

The Guest House by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Poems Of Encouragement

When times are tough, these inspirational poems always bring hope to me and, I believe that they are the perfect poems to cheer someone up too. Hope you find some inspiration from poems of encouragement:

1. How Did You Die? by Edmund Vance Cooke
2. Don’t Quit by Edgar A. Guest
3. If Any
4. Take A Walk Around Yourself
5. Face The Sun
6. You Tell On Yourself

How Did You Die? by Edmund Vance Cooke

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
Or a trouble is what you make it,
And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts,
But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what’s that!
Come up with a smiling face.
It’s nothing against you to fall down flat,
But to lie there-that’s disgrace.
The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce
Be proud of your blackened eye!
It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts;
It’s how did you fight-and why?

And though you be done to the death, what then?
If you battled the best you could,
If you played your part in the world of men,
Why, the Critic will call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he’s slow or spry,
It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,
But only how did you die?

Don’t Quit by Edgar A. Guest

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low but the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit…
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit!

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many failures turn about
When we might have won had we stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow…
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out…
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

If Any

If any little words of ours
Can make one life the brighter;
If any little song of ours
Can make one heart the lighter;

God help us speak the little word,
And take our bit of singing,
And drop it in some lonely vale,
And set the echoes raging

Take A Walk Around Yourself

When you’re criticising others,
And are finding, here and there,
A fault or two to speak of
Or a weakness you can tear:
When you’re blaming some one’s weakness,
Or accusing some of pelf –
It’s time that you went out
To take a walk around yourself.

There’s lots of human failures
In the average of us all,
And lots of grave short comings
In the short ones and the tail;
But when we think of evils
Men should lay upon the shelves,
It’s time we all went out
To take a walk around ourselves.

We need so often in this life
This balancing of scales,
This seeing how much in us wins
And how much in us fails;
But before you judge another –
Just to lay him on the shelf –
It would be a splendid plan
To take a walk around yourself.

Face The Sun

Don’t hunt for trouble, but look for success;
You’ll find what you look for–don’t look for distress.
If you see but your shadow, remember, I pray,
That the sun is still shining, but you’re in the way.

Don’t grumble, don’t bluster, don’t sigh and don’t shirk;
Don’t think of your worries, but think of your work.
The worries will vanish, the work will be done,
No man sees his shadow – who faces the sun.

You Tell On Yourself

You tell what you are by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime.

You tell what you are by the things you wear,
By the spirit in which you burdens bear,
By the kind of things at which you laugh,
By records you play on the phonograph.

You tell what you are by the way you walk,
By the things of which you delight to talk,
By the manner in which you bear defeat,
By so simple a thing as how you eat.

By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf;
In these ways, and more, you tell on yourself.

1. Strength
   
   Poet: Mrs. M. A. Kidder

   Strength for to-day is all that we need,
   As there will never be a to-morrow;
   For to-morrow will prove but another to-day,
   With its measure of joy and sorrow.

   Then why forecast the trials of life
   With much sad and grave persistence.
   And wait and watch for a crowd of ills
   That as yet have no existence?

   Strength for to- day; what a precious boon
   For earnest souls who labor —
   For the willing hands that minister
   To the needy friend and neighbour.

   Strength for to-day, that the weary hearts
   In the battle for right may quail not,
   And the eyes bedimmed by bitter tears
   In their search for life may quail not

   Strength for to-day, on the down-hill track,
   For the travelers near the valley,
   That up, far up, the other side
   Ere long they may safely rally.

   Strength for to-day-that our precious youth
   May happily shun temptation,
   And build, from the rise to the set of the sun,
   On a strong and sure foundation.

   Strength for to-day, in house and home
   To practise forbearance sweetly;
   To scatter kind words and loving deeds,
   Still trusting in God completely.

   Strength for to-day is all that we need,
   As there never will be a to-morrow;
   For to-morrow will prove but another to-day.
   With its measure of joy and sorrow.

   

2. It Takes Strength  & Courage
   
   Poet: Unknown

   It takes strength to be firm,
   It takes courage to be gentle.

   It takes strength to conquer,
   It takes courage to surrender.

   It takes strength to be certain,
   It takes courage to have doubt.

   It takes strength to fit in,
   It takes courage to stand out.

   It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain,
   It takes courage to feel your own pain.

   It takes strength to endure abuse,
   It takes courage to stop it.

   It takes strength to stand alone,
   It takes courage to lean on another.

   It takes strength to love,
   It takes courage to be loved.

   It takes strength to survive,
   It takes courage to live

3. A Little Prayer
   
   Poet: Unknown

   If any little word of mine
   May make a life the brighter;
   If any little song of mine
   May make a heart the lighter,
   God help me speak the little word.
   And take my bit of singing,
   And drop it in some lonely vale
   To set the echoes ringing.

   If any little love of mine
   May make a life the sweeter;
   If any little care of mine
   May make a friend’s the fleeter;
   If any little lift may ease
   The burden of another,
   God give me love, and care and strength
   To help my toiling brother.

4. Strength Comes From
   
   Poet: Catherine Pulsifer

   Stength comes from loving
   not from hatred.

   Strength comes from forgiveness
   not from revenge.

   Strength comes from sharing
   not from greed.

   Strength comes from thinking of others
   not from thinking of self.

   Strength comes from patience
   not from intolerance.

   Strength comes from hope
   not from doubt.

   Strength comes from taking action
   not from giving up.

   Strength comes from being optimistic
   not from negative thoughts.

   Most importantly, strength comes from God
   not from culture.

5. Grant Me
   
   Poet: Edgar A. Guest

   Grant me, 0 Lord, the strength today
   For every task which comes my way.
   Cover my eyes and make me blind
   To petty faults I should not find.

   Open my eyes and let me see
   The friend my neighbor tries to be.
   Teach me; when duty seems severe,
   To see my purpose shining clear.

   Let me at noon time rest content
   The half-day bravely lived and spent.
   And when the night slips down, let me
   Unstained and undishonored be.

   Grant me to live this one day through
   Up to the best that I can do.

6. Be Strong
   
   Poet: Maltbie D. Babcock

   Be Strong!
   We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.
   We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.
   Shun not the struggle; face it. ‘Tis God’s gift.

   Be Strong!
   Say not the days are evil — Who’s to blame?
   And fold the hands and acquiesce — O shame!
   Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s name.

   Be Strong!
   It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,
   How hard the battle goes, the day how long,
   Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song!

7. Strength Is
   
   by Edward Evertt Hale

   Strength is success.
   Strength to be,
   Strength to do,
   Strength to love,
   Strength to live.
   It is not happiness,
   It is not amusement,
   It is not content.
   These will come
   But they are not the object.

8. Battle Every Day
   
   Poet: Unknown

   If a trouble binds you, break it;
   Life is often what we make it,
   Good or ill — and so we take it;
   Let not disappointment fret you,
   If a seeming ill beset you,
   Cast it off, and hopeful get you
   On your way —
   As you make it, so you take it,
   In the battle every day.

   If your genius slumber, wake it;
   For our life is what we make it;
   As we shape it, so we take it;
   If we hunt for care or sorrow,
   We shall only always borrow
   Trouble from a better morrow
   Every day —
   As we make it, so we take it —
   So the life will run away.

   If the heart is thirsty, slake it;
   If a blessing offers, take it;
   For our life is what we make it;
   Joy abounds in happy faces;
   Pleasure lives in rosy places;
   Let us court the goodly graces
   By the way;
   And we’ll take it as we make it
   In the battle every day.

   Dig the garden, smooth it, rake it;
   For the math is what you make it;
   As you work it. so you take it;
   Sit not idly hoping, dreaming —
   Wrapt in fancy’s futile teeming;
   Victory does not come by scheming —
   Strike and stay!
   As you make it, so you take it,
   If you faint not by the way.

   

9. Take This Honey
   
   Poet: Unknown

   Then take this honey for the bitterest cup:
   There is no failure, save in giving up;
   No real fall so long as one still tries.
   For seeming setbacks make the strong men wise.
   There’s no defeat, in truth, save from within;
   Unless you’re beaten there, you’re bound to win.

10. Aspiration And Energy
    
    by J. R. Miller

    Each one’s battle must be a personal one.
    We may decline the struggle,
    But it will be declining also the joy of victory.

    No one can reach the summit without climbing
    The steep mountain-path.
    We cannot be borne up on any strong shoulder.
    No one, not even God, can carry us up.

    Heaven does not put features of beauty into our lives
    As the jeweller sets gems in clusters in a coronet.
    The unlovely elements are not removed and replaced
    By lovely ones like slides in the stereopticon.

    Each must win his way through struggles
    And efforts to all noble attainments.
    The help of God is given only in co-operation with
    Human aspiration and energy.

11. Look Forward
    
    by C. G. Ames

    We must «look forward and not backward;»
    We must learn the grace of self-forgiveness.

    If we sit and brood over our weaknesses,
    Over the waywardness and the wanderings of
    Heart and life that have made our path so crooked

    If we dwell on our mistakes, follies, and sins
    All strength will go out of us,

    And we shall sink in a
    Bottomless abyss of despair.

12. Deepen Thy Roots
    
    by J. Sharp

    Force not thy upward growth, but first of all
    Deepen thy roots, then may’st thou well sustain
    The rays of sunlight that upon thee fall,
    And, without withering, all thy strength retain.
    Plants that have little else but leaf and flower,
    However bright their hue, live but their little hour.

13. Whatever Happens
    
    by M. Aurelius

    Whatever happens,
    either you have strength to bear it,
    or you have not.

    If you have, exert your nature,
    And never murmur at the matter.

    But if the weight is too heavy for you,
    Do not complain; it will crush you,
    And then destroy itself.

    And here you are to remember
    That to think a thing tolerable
    And endurable is the way to make it so.

14. Three Words Of Strength
    
    Poet: Friedrich Schiller

    There are three lessons I would write —
    Three words as with a burning pen,
    In tracings of eternal light
    Upon the hearts of men.

    Have Hope. Though clouds environ round
    And gladness hides her face in scorn,
    Put off the shadow from thy brow —
    No night but hath its morn.

    Have Faith. Where’er thy bark is driven —
    The claims disport, the tempest’s mirth —
    Know this: God rules the hosts of heaven,
    The inhabitants of earth.

    Have Love. Not love alone for one;
    But man, as man, thy brother call;
    And scatter, like the circling sun,
    Thy charities on all.

    Thus grave these lessons on thy soul —
    Hope, Faith and Love, and thou shalt find
    Strength, when life’s surges rudest roll.
    Light, when thou else were blind.

15. I Pray For Strength
    
    Poet: William C. Richards

    I pray for strength, O God!
    To bear all loads that on my shoulders press
    Of Thy directing or Thy chastening rod,
    Lest from their growing stress
    My spirit sinks in utter helplessness.

    I pray for strength to run
    In duty’s narrowest paths, nor turn aside
    In broader ways that glow in Pleasure’s sun,
    Lest I grow satisfied, —
    Where Thou, from me, Thy smiling face must hide.

    I pray for strength to wait,
    Submissive, when I cannot see my way;
    Or, if my feet would haste, some close-barred gate
    Bids my hot zeal delay,
    Or, to some by-path, turns their steps astray.

    I pray for strength to live
    To all Life’s noble ends, prompt, just and true,
    Myself, my service, unto all to give,
    And giving, yet renew
    My store for bounty, all life’s journey through.

    I pray, O God, for strength,
    When, as Life’s love and labors find surcease,
    Cares, crosses, burdens, to lay down at length,
    And so, with joy’s increase,
    To die, if not in triumph, — in Thy peace.

16. Strength
    
    Poet: W. T. Field

    Be strong today; the world needs men
    Of nerve and muscle, heart and brain,
    To war for truth and conquer wrong.
    The fight is on; the foes combine;
    The order passes down the line,
    «Quit you like men; be strong.»

    Be strong; the world hath also need
    Of feet to ache and hearts to bleed;
    Burdens there are to bear along;
    But, though the end, we may not see,
    ‘Tis not the meanest destiny
    To bear and to be strong.

    Be strong, but not in self. Go whence
    The breathings of Omnipotence
    Shall sweep the nerve-strings full and long,
    And from their impulse shall arise
    Those deep, celestial harmonies
    That comfort and make strong.

    And patience, too, must come to rest
    Within the striving, throbbing breast
    That thinks tomorrow all too long,
    Thus filling out in breadth and length
    The perfect character — for strength
    Unbridled is not strong.

    Yes, right must win, since God is just;
    Our hardest lesson is to trust,
    But his great plan still moves along
    Today is but the chrysalis
    That holds tomorrow; feeling this,
    Be patient and be strong.

    Each hath his mission. If it be
    My lot to toil, but not to see
    The fruits which to my toil belong,
    I know One whose all-seeing eye
    My humblest task shall glorify,
    And he shall make me strong.

    

17. Little Things
    
    Poet: Ellen P. Allerton

    We call him strong who stands unmoved —
    Calm as some tempest-beaten rock —
    When some great trouble hurls its shock;
    We say of him, «His strength is proved»:
    But when the spent storm folds its wings,
    How bears he then life’s little things?

    We call him great that does some deed
    That echo bears from shore to shore —
    Does that, and then does nothing more;
    Yet would his work earn richer meed,
    When brought before the King of kings,
    Were he but great in little things.

    We closely guard our castle gates
    When great temptations loudly knock;
    Draw every bolt, clinch every lock,
    And sternly fold our bars and gates;
    Yet some small door wide open swings
    At the sly touch of little things.

    But what is life? Drops make the sea;
    And petty cares and small events
    Small causes and small consequents,
    Make up the sum for you and me;
    Then, oh, for strength to meet the stings,
    That arm the points of little things!

18. The Right to Joy
    
    Poet: Edgar A. Guest

    I do not ask for roses all the time.
    For blue skies bending o’er me every day,
    I do not ask for easy hills to climb.
    And always for my feet a pleasant way.
    In laughter I would not spend all my life,
    And miss the joy of sweet and sacred pain;
    I want to know life’s burden and its strife,
    And feel upon my cheek the splash of rain.

    I merely pray for strength enough to bear
    My burdens, and to tread the rugged way;
    To keep the right, howe’er beset with care,
    To stand, unflinching, face front, to the fray.
    And I would claim life’s roses for my own.
    But I would win my right to know their sweet;
    To level paths I’d march my way alone.
    For victory I’d venture with defeat.