Don’t Quit – LoveMyESL

I came across this poem by an unknown author when I was cleaning out my file cabinet, which I do every five years. I love its message.

When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill
When funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh

When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As everyone of us sometimes learns

And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

trudging: traveling with difficulty
uphill: difficult to do
funds: money
debts: money you owe
sigh: breathe deeply to release stress
pressing you down: making it hard for you to do anything
queer: strange
twists and turns: surprises
turns about: gets better, becomes a success
had he stuck it out: if he had continued to try
give up: stop trying
pace: speed of working
blow: try
inside out: opposite
silver tint: good thing
clouds of doubt: bad thinking
tell: realize
stick to: continue doing
hardest hit: have the biggest difficulties
worst: most bad

Pronunciation Exercise: Listen and repeat the above vocabulary on the audio file below.