‘Unsubdued’

I have hoped, I have planned, I have striven,
To the will I have added the deed;
The best that was in me I’ve given,
I’ve prayed, but God would not heed.

I have dared and reached only disaster’
I have battled and broken my lance;
I am bruised by a pitiless master
That the weak and the timid call chance.

I am old, I am bent, I am cheated
Of all that Youth urged me to win;
But name me not with the defeated
For tomorrow again, I begin!

S. E. Kiser