Resolution

Though cynics laugh exultantly

At all your high resolving

I think that you'll agree with me,

It keeps the world revolving.

'Tis true a certain place is paved

With resolutions broken;

But here and there a pledge is saved,

And by that very token.

The world is lifted from a groove

Of blind and futile striving;

The van of progress, on the move,

Will one day be arriving.

At some far distant, pleasant place

We call a destination.

Resolving sets the forward pace

Throughout the world's creation.

The very soil on which you stand

Is yours through some one's notion

That he could find an unknown land

Beyond an endless ocean.

The liberty you now can claim

As life's most prieceless dower

Harks back to some heroic name

Who broke the ban of power.

Name any treasured thing of life;

Somehow it will revolve

Around the thought and toil and strife

Of one who did resolve.

So turn a corner, if you will,

The way your heart is yearning.

And though you falter on the hill

You're better for the turning.

(Copyright, 1940)