Poems that keep me going, from two of the very best. Works/words that never die, EDGAR A. GUEST and ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

in #poetry7 years ago (edited)

You can do as much as you think you can,
But you'll never accomplish more;
If you're afraid of yourself, young man,
There's little for you in store.
For failure comes from the inside first,
It's there if we only knew it, and you can win,
Though you face the worst,
If you feel that you're going to do it.

            - EDGAR A. GUEST 

There are two kinds of people on earth today,
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

Not the good and bad, for 'tis well understood
The good are half good, and the bad are half good.

Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man's wealth
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.

Not the humble and proud, for in life's busy span
Who puts on vain airs is not counted a man.

No, the two kinds of people on earth I mean
Are the people who LIFT and the people who LEAN!

Wherever you go, you will find the world's masses
Are ever divided in just these two classes.

And strangely enough you will find, too, I ween,
There is only one LIFTER to twenty who LEAN.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load
Of overtaxed LIFTERS who toil down the road?

Or are you a LEANER who let's others bear
Your portion of worry and labour and care?

     - ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
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