There are no gods that bring to youth <br />The rich rewards that stalwarts claim; <br />The god of fortune is in truth <br />A vision and an empty name. <br />The toiler who through doubt and care <br />Unto his goal and victory plods, <br />With no one need his glory share: <br />He is himself his favoring gods. <br />There are no gods that will bestow <br />Earth's joys and blessings on a man. <br />Each one must choose the path he'll go, <br />Then win from it what joy he can. <br />And he that battles with the odds <br />Shall know success, but he who waits <br />The favors of the mystic gods, <br />Shall never come to glory's gates. <br />No man is greater than his will; <br />No gods to him will lend a hand! <br />Upon his courage and his skill <br />The record of his life must stand. <br />What honors shall befall to him, <br />What he shall claim of fame or pelf, <br />Depend not on the favoring whim <br />Of fortune's god, but on himself.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/there-are-no-gods/
