"BRACE UP."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 17, 21 August 1885, Page 7

"BRACE U P."

(By Patrick Sarsfield Oabsidy.) No man e'er sailed life's changeful pea With prosperous weather all the way, With sparkling waves, winds fair and free, And ne'er a dangerous bar nor bay. All meet their Btorms, and straits, and shoals, And drink of danger's desperate cup. When comes the hour to try men's souls, Jump to your feet and act.—" Brace up ! " And trouble — well, who does not know That is the legacy of man ? Life's poison plant, whose vapours blow Across onr paths to blast and ban ? But if in world with careß o'ercast We sometimes must of sorrow sup, Let's try to shorten the repast, Strike for the sunshine, and " brace up." 'Tis well remembered that all men Their shadows carry with them still, And now they trudge Depression's glen, And now they walk Joy's sunlit hill. When one we meet in pathway drear, And weak from woe's life-sapping cup, Let's strike him on the back, and cheer, And tell him : " Lift your heart ; brace up." None holds the right to scatter gloom, His shadow over others spread ; Men want to live 'mid light and bloom, And not in caverns of the dead. Away, y« Bcribbling men of grief, We will not share your coward's cup. Who steals our cheer is quaking thief — Contempt on him who won't " brace up." Tbeie's sunshine plenty in the world To spare the darkest soul a raj , And then with Hope's brave flag unfurled, And courage crowned to light the way, Tell grim misfortune, envy, hate, We will not drink your wretched cup, Nor can the most malignant fate Crush out the man who will " brace up." " What will you have " the mighty King Asked the philosopher of old. " Stand back 1" Don't take from me the thing You cannot give— the sunshine's gold." A wise philosopher wert thou, And deep you'd drink of Wisdom's cup ; Let us when sorrow strikes the brow Step to the sunshine and '• brace up." [aspiring words, most potent phrase, All life's philosophy you hold, You tell us, look for brighter days, You give us courage, brave aud bold . Whate'er the blinding blow we feel, Whate'er may be the proffered cup, Ob, let the spirit never kneel To ill-faced fortune, but '• brace up." —New York Sun.