Opportunity

WASTER 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 gete!

If sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before

1 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--

I answer not, and I return no more. -

John James Ingalls
18383--1900