If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars; It may be, in yon smoke concealed, Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers, And, but for you, possess the field. For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back, through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding in, the main. And not by eastern windows only, When daylight comes, comes in the light, In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly, But westward, look, the land is bright. FOR A' THAT AN' A' THAT Robert Burns Is there for honest poverty That hings his head, an' a' that? The coward slave, we pass him by,-- We dare be poor for a' that! For a' that, an' a' that, Our toils obscure, an' a' that, The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that. What though on hamely fare we dine, Wear hodden gray, an' a' that? Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine-- A man's a man for a' that. For a' that, an' a' that, Their tinsel show, an' a 'that: The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor, Is king o' men for a' that. Ye see yon birkie ca'd "a lord," Wha' struts an' stares, an' a 'that? Tho' hundreds worship at his word, He's but a cuif for a' that. For a' that, an' a' that, His riband, star, an' a' that, The man o' independent mind He looks an' laughs at a' that. A prince can mak' a belted knight, A marquis, duke, an' a' that! But an honest man's aboon his might,-- Guid faith, he mauna fa' that! For a' that, an' a' that, Their dignities an' a' that, The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth, Are higher rank than a' that. Then let us pray that come it may, (As come it will for a' that) That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth, Shall bear the gree, an' a' that. For a' that, an' a' that, It's comin' yet, for a' that, That man to man, the world o'er, Shall brithers be for a' that. INVICTUS William Ernest Henly 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. OPPORTUNITY Edward Rowland Sill