Persistence

I have hoped.
I have planned.
I have striven
To have the will added to the deed.
All that was in me I've given
I n the hope that I would succeed.
I have dared and reached only disaster.
I have battled and broken my lance.
I've been struck by a pitiless master
That the weak and timid call Chance.
I am old.
I am bent.
I've been cheated
Of all that youth urged me to win.
But name me not with the defeated
For tomorrow, again I begin.

Author unknown