BE not discouraged, loved and struggling soul!
The light is hazy, and the way is cold;
Yet warmth shall come with climbing; and behold,
There shall be light transcendent at the goal.

Be not discouraged! though a hundred times
Your foot has slipt upon the upward way;
The clouds of life are rounded toward the day,
And he is nearest heaven who longest climbs.

Be not discouraged! I am grown one prayer
That courage never fail you; lest the mist
And gust of circumstance should, wreathing, twist
Your slackened foothold from the aspiring stair.

You shall not fail! Where billowed cloud is spread,
Your strenuous aspiration has my will
To second its intent, until--until
I see you vanish from me overhead.

I would have followed for your very sake,
But all my strength was spent to help you, dear;
And when your victory is safe and clear,
I almost think my heart of hearts will break.