Married Life
Getting married is easy.
Staying married is more difficult.
Staying happily married for a lifetime
should rank among the fine arts.
[Flack]
Give me the heart of a man
More than half beaten, but fearless,
Facing the storm and the night;
Breathless and reeling, but tearless,
Here in the lull of the fight,
I who bow not but before Thee,
God of the Fighting Clan,
Lifting my fists I implore Thee,
Give me the heart of a Man!
What though I live with the winners,
Or perish with those who fall?
Only the cowards are sinners,
Fighting the fight is all.
Strong is my Foe - he advances!
Snapt is my blade, O Lord!
See the proud banners and lances!
Oh, spare me this stub of a sword!
Give me no pity, nor spare me;
Calm not the wrath of my Foe.
See where he beckons to dare me!
Bleeding, half beaten - I go.
Not for the glory of winning,
Not for the fear of the night;
Shunning the battle is sinning -
Oh, spare me the heart to fight!
Red is the mist about me;
Deep is the wound in my side;
"Coward" thou criest to flout me?
O terrible Foe, thou hast lied!
Here with my battle before me,
God of the Fighting Clan,
Grant that the woman who bore me
Suffered to suckle a Man!
[John G. Neihardt]
PERSISTENCE
There is genius and power in persistence.
It conquers all opposers; it gives confidence;
it annihilates obstacles. Everybody believes
in the determined man. People know that
when he understakes a thing, the battle is
half won, for his rule is to accomplish
whatever he sets out to do.
[Orison Sweet Marden]
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