True Success

By Robert Hare[1]

To kneel beside the task, unfinished, yet to know

The patient hand had done its very best;

This is not failure—never need be so—

The struggle leads thee on to rest.

To wait where some titanic tempest sweeps the way,

To fall before the thunder of its might,

This is not failure; no, the coming of the day

May find for thee a loftier height.

To love, then lose the vision of our fondest view,

However fair the angel form, and sweet;

This is not failure, if our love was true,

Since loving makes life more complete.

To run, where hasting millions join the hurried race,

To fall behind for lack of power or speed;

This is not failure, for the quickened pace

Will strengthen for some greater need.

What then is failure?  This: the coward heart; the mind

That fears the burden and the heat of day,

That shirks, in littleness, the task assigned,

And thus the hopes of life betrays.

To cringe, when duty points to battlefields unwon;

To shrink when courage calls the true and brave;

To leave the struggle, and the helpless shun—

This is the failure, this the slave!

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[1] Robert Hare was born in 1858 in New Zealand. He was a boat builder by trade when, at the age of 27, he was converted to Seventh Day Adventism through the missionary efforts of Stephen Haskell. He moved to the United States and attended Healdsburg (later Pacific Union) College. At 30 years old, he graduated and was ordained; he then returned to New Zealand to preach. Two years later he moved his proselyting efforts to Australia. Until his retirement in 1929, he preached, edited religious papers, and taught Bible at Avondale College. He also wrote many poems for denominational periodicals. Between 1924 and 1929 he also worked in New Zealand, Pitcairn Island, and Fiji. He published two books for children: Tales of Grit for Boys and Girls (1938) and Stories that Inspire (1939). In 1948 some of his poems were collected in Along Life’s Journey. He died in 1953.  (Source: Historical Dictionary of Seventh-Day Adventists)