Past definite discouragements,
Thwarted here and baffled there–
Over ridicule and the rubble of poverty,
Still he scrambled.
To have given up
Would have been much easier,
But he couldn’t do that.
He used to say
If you kept butting your head
Against a wall,
Sooner or later
Something would give.
I don’t like to think about his being locked
In that kind of institution.
Still, he was right.
But I can’t help wondering:
If his head had held out
Maybe just a little longer
Would folk today be calling him
A Big Success
Instead of Just Obstinate?
by Ray Romine Thursday, July 5, 1945
