Yet

If you can hear yourself say I can’t and still
Refuse to let that verdict be your end,
If you can place one word against that will
And leave the door ajar you could not bend,

If you can fail and not call failure fate,
Or fall and not conclude the climb is done,
If every can’t is held in calm suspense
Till time decides what may or may not run,

If you can wait and trust the unseen gain
When effort yields no proof for mortal eyes,
If you can stand within the present strain
And see in yet tomorrow’s enterprise,

If you can teach your doubt a truer tense —
That limits speak of now, not what will be,
That hope survives in patient consequence
And grows wherever work and faith agree,

If you can meet the future unashamed
Of who you are, or are not — yet,
Then yours the strength by quiet builders claimed:
A life made larger by one added yet.