Luck had a favor to bestow <br />And wondered where to let it go. <br /> <br />'No lazy man on earth,' said she, <br />'Shall get this happy gift from me. <br /> <br />'I will not pass it to the man <br />Who will not do the best he can. <br /> <br />'I will not make this splendid gift <br />To one who has not practiced thrift. <br /> <br />'It shall not benefit deceit, <br />Nor help the man who's played the cheat. <br /> <br />'He that has failed to fight with pluck <br />Shall never know the Goddess Luck. <br /> <br />'I'll look around a bit to see <br />What man has earned some help from me.' <br /> <br />She found a man whose hands were soiled <br />Because from day to day he'd toiled. <br /> <br />He'd dreamed by night and worked by day <br />To make life's contest go his way. <br /> <br />He'd kept his post and daily slaved, <br />And something of his wage he'd saved. <br /> <br />He'd clutched at every circumstance <br />Which might have been his golden chance. <br /> <br />The goddess smiled and then, kerslap! <br />She dropped her favor in his lap.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-lucky-man-2/
