Opportunity

MASTER of human destinies am I.

Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait,
Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate
Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by
Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late

I knock unbidden, once at every gate!

if sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before
I turn away. It is the hour of fate,

And they who follow me reach every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe

Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate,
Condemned to failure, penury and woe,

Seek me in vain and uselessly implore--

1 answer not, and I return no more.

John James Ingalls
1833--1900