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 hold, old triumphs aid,
Today'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.

It Couldn't Be Done - Edgar Guest - Positive Poems

Try as you might to surround yourself with positive people, there are still many naysayers in the world. This is what Edgar Guest says to do when you encounter them, and I agree.

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he had tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "couldn't be done" and you'll do it.

"Invictus" has moved here: Inspirational Poems

What You Hold May You Always Hold - Clare Of Assisi

This is more of a spiritual poem or blessing, but it has all the beauty and inspiration of poetry that lasts through the ages.

What you hold, may you always hold
What you do, may you always do and never abandon
But with swift pace, light step, and unswerving feet,
So that even your steps stir up no dust.

Go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly
On the path of prudent happiness
Believing nothing, agreeing with nothing
Which would dissuade you from this resolution,

Or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way,
So that you may offer your vows to the Most High
In the pursuit of that perfection to which
The Spirit of the Lord has called you.

More Positive Poetry

Seize The Day! - Positive Life Poem

To Youth

Drink wine, and live here
Blitheful while ye may;
Tomorrow's life is too late;
Live to-day.

- Robert Herrick

See these positive quotes about life.

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers - Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Don't Quit - Anonymous - Positive Poems

The Don't Quit poem reminds us to never give up and breathes new life into a tried and true sentiment.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twist and its turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When they might have won, had stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a fain and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worse that you must not quit!

I Choose The Mountain - Howard Simon

An incredible poem about making life's biggest decisions. Which path will you choose?

The low lands call
I am tempted to answer
They are offering me a free dwelling
Without having to conquer

The massive mountain makes its move
Beckoning me to ascend
A much more difficult path
To get up the slippery bend

I cannot choose both
I have a choice to make
I must be wise
This will determine my fate

I choose, I choose the mountain
With all its stress and strain
Because only by climbing
Can I rise above the plane

I choose the mountain
And I will never stop climbing
I choose the mountain
And I shall forever be ascending

I choose the mountain