Assured of worthiness we do not dread <br />Competitors; we rather give them hail <br />And greeting in the lists where we may fail: <br />Must, if we bear an aim beyond the head! <br />My betters are my masters: purely fed <br />By their sustainment I likewise shall scale <br />Some rocky steps between the mount and vale; <br />Meanwhile the mark I have and I will wed. <br />So that I draw the breath of finer air, <br />Station is nought, nor footways laurel-strewn, <br />Nor rivals tightly belted for the race. <br />Good speed to them! My place is here or there; <br />My pride is that among them I have place: <br />And thus I keep this instrument in tune.<br /><br />George Meredith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/internal-harmony/
