Courage

O writers, poets, that remain unknown
And do not win the laurels of renown
Let not this sap your strength, nor adumbrate
Your time - "Your Day" will come, though it be late,

They will dig up your lines, compare and match
The manuscript against your draft and fetch
From creaking drawers scribbled notes - Take Heart!
Think of the work of Haendel and Mozart

The former,- near-starved -shivered in a den
When "The Messiah" issued from his pen.
A straying terrier, spotted brown and beige
Was Mozart's only funeral cortege..

The dog stood whimpering upon a mound
While the "Divine" was lowered into ground.
And Francis Thompson,- rent-delinquent - given
The boot,- while he composed "The Hound of Heaven"

By Providence's mysterious decree
The pearls are discovered and set free
And words ignored and spurned will come to light
And treasured,- so take up your pen- and write!