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Start Where You Stand
By Berton Braley

Start where you stand and never mind the past,
The past won't help you in beginning new,
If you have left it all behind at last
Why, that's enough, you're done with it, you're through;
This is another chapter in the book,
This is another race that you have planned,
Don't give the vanished days a backward look,
Start where you stand.

The world won't care about your old defeats
If you can start anew and win success,
The future is your time, and time is fleet
And there is much of work and strain and stress;
Forget the buried woes and dead despairs,
Here is a brand new trial right at hand,
The future is for him who does and dares,
Start where you stand.

Old failures will not halt, old triumphs aid,
To-day's the thing, to-morrow soon will be;
Get in the fight and face it unafraid,
And leave the past to ancient history;
What has been, has been; yesterday is dead
And by it you are neither blessed nor banned,
Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead,
Start where you stand.

_____________________
About Berton Braley (1882-1966)

Braley was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He inherited his father's talent in writing and had shown his talent at even at a young age. At 11 he published his first work - a fairy tale called "Why The Grass Is Green".
Braley was considered a person who is always optimistic and held the belief that everything is possible. In his life Braley had written around 11,000 verses and several hundered short stories, making him one of the most widely read American poet of his era.