Sunday, October 24, 2010

In this poem a view of opportunity is presented. The recreant or the dreamer complains that he has no real chance. He would succeed, he says, if he had but the implements of success: money, influence, social prestige, and the like. But success lies far less in implements than in the use we make of them.

What one man throws away as useless, another man seizes as the best means of victory at hand. For every one of us the materials for achievement are sufficient. The spirit that prompts us is what ultimately counts.

This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:--

There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;

And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged

A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords

Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince’s

Banner

Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by

foes.

A craven hung along the battle’s edge,

And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel –

That blue blade that the king’s son bears, ---but

This

Blunt thing --------!” he snapt and flung it from his

hand,

and lowering crept away and left the field.

Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bested,

And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,

Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,

And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout

Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,

And saved a great cause that heroic day.

Edward Rowland Sill

4 comments:

Mel said...

Oh, Fred, I LOVE this post! My heart goes out to everyone in it--the soldiers, the poor disillusioned coward making excuses, and the prince... I can see myself in each and every one of them. My God give me and all of us the strength and courage to fight bravely, to stop making excuses for ourselves, and to take up whatever tools and weapons God has placed within our reach to accomomplish that which He has called us to do on a moment by moment basis! In Jesus' name!

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Fred,

Wonderful post.

God has given all of us equal talents.While some use it to the best of their ability and succeed most of us don't use it fully and properly and hence we reach no where.We sit and complain about our circumstances.

In this world there are many rags to riches story and yet we don't believe them.We want to excel in all that we do but we don't want to exert ourselves to accomplish any thing great.We procrastinate,waste time and don't work to achieve our dreams.

Lovely post and there is a great lesson for all of us.

Best wishes,
Joseph

FCB said...

Hi Mel,
You squeezed all the nectar out of this quote. Great applications.
God bless,
Fred



Hi Joseph,
Thanks for your insights as well. It's true, life generally demands more from us then we are willing to give.
God bless,
Fred

FCB said...
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