Enthusiasm should be firm enough
To stand against the fortunes of a day,
And throwing off impedimenta, stay
As fresh, untarnished, as its foes are rough.
In spite of every jeer and each rebuff,
Despite the clever things our critics say,
Regardless of the price we heve to pay,
Our zest for life ought be, of all things, tough.
But, long as men delude themselves, and think
That hard work is a virtue unsurpassed,
That labor is its own hard-earned reward,
That long will man’s enthusiasm shrink
Before midday; and by his sweat outclassed
He will die tired, and miserable, and bored.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, March 7, 1944
