[MR2]

The Quitter - Robert Service (1921)

When you're lost in the Wild, and you're scared as a child,
_And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And you're sore as a boil, it’s according to Hoyle
_To cock your revolver and . . . die.
But the Code of a Man says: "Fight all you can,"
_And self-dissolution is barred.
In hunger and woe, oh, it’s easy to blow . . .
_It’s the hell-served-for-breakfast that’s hard.


"You're sick of the game!" Well, now that’s a shame.
_You're young and you're brave and you're bright.
"You've had a raw deal!" I know — but don't squeal,
_Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.
It’s the plugging away that will win you the day,
_So don't be a piker, old pard!
Just draw on your grit, it’s so easy to quit.
_It’s the keeping-your chin-up that’s hard.


It’s easy to cry that you're beaten — and die;
_It’s easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope’s out of sight —
_Why that’s the best game of them all!
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
_All broken and battered and scarred,
Just have one more try — it’s dead easy to die,
_It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.