"Start Where You Stand"

"Start Where You Stand" Poem 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 backwards 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, tomorrow will soon 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 or banned;
Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead,
Start where you stand.