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If I Had This or That
When Abraham Lincoln was a lad
And lived in a hut in the wood,
No books, no lamp, no time he had,
And yet it is understood
He trudged many miles to borrow a book;
The light of the flickering fire he took
And studied whenever he could;
And none of his friends ever heard him say,
In a self-excusing and hopeless way,
"If I had this or that I would."
When Joan of Arc was a little maid,
Untutored, gentle, good,
And France was conquered and dismayed
By England's masterhood,
She had no wealth or armament;
Alone with her faith the little maid went
And freed her land as she could;
And nobody ever heard her say,
In a listless, longing, empty way,
"If had this or that I would."
When young James Watt sat by the fire
And watched the burning wood,
He saw the kettle's lid mount higher,
Observed and understood;
He had no need of a laboratory
To plan his great steam engine's glory;
He used his eye as he could,
And he never once was heard to say,
In a shiftless, thriftless, futile way,
"If I had this or that I would."
If now you will read your histories over
(As I earnestly think you should),
The fact will impress you more and more
In the lives of the great and good,
That they were those who never held back
For circumstance or material lack,
But arose and did what they could;
And never a one was heard to say,
In a weak, surrendering, doubting way,
"If I had this or that I would."
since 11/9/2001
Copyright ©2000-2002 Barbe's Place
