Keep A-Goin’!
If you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin’!
If it hails or if it snows,
Keep a-goin’!
‘Taint no use to sit and whine
When the fish ain’t on your line;
Bait your hook an’ keep a-tryin’ -
Keep a-goin’!
When the weather kills your crop,
Keep a-goin’!
Though it’s work to reach the top,
Keep a-goin’!
S’pose you’re out o’ ev’ry dime,
Gittin’ broke ain’t any crime;
Tell the world you’re feelin’ prime -
Keep a-goin’!
When it looks like all is up,
Keep a-goin’!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
Keep a-goin’!
See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like sighin’, sing -
Keep a-goin’!
By Frank Lebby Stanton: as published in L. L. Perry, Wightman F. Melton, and M. D. Collins, editors: “Frank Lebby Stanton: Georgia’s First Poet Laureate” (1938), page 6; the original version of the poem incorporated Southern United States dialect of the time, with ‘ef’ for ‘if’ in the first and third lines
Frank Lebby Stanton was born on 22 February 1857 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America. He became a poet, a lyricist, a newspaper editor, and a columnist under the heading “News from Billville” which later became “Up from Georgia.” Frank Lebby Stanton passed on at 69 years of age on 7 January 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
If you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin’!
If it hails or if it snows,
Keep a-goin’!
‘Taint no use to sit and whine
When the fish ain’t on your line;
Bait your hook an’ keep a-tryin’ -
Keep a-goin’!
When the weather kills your crop,
Keep a-goin’!
Though it’s work to reach the top,
Keep a-goin’!
S’pose you’re out o’ ev’ry dime,
Gittin’ broke ain’t any crime;
Tell the world you’re feelin’ prime -
Keep a-goin’!
When it looks like all is up,
Keep a-goin’!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
Keep a-goin’!
See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like sighin’, sing -
Keep a-goin’!
By Frank Lebby Stanton: as published in L. L. Perry, Wightman F. Melton, and M. D. Collins, editors: “Frank Lebby Stanton: Georgia’s First Poet Laureate” (1938), page 6; the original version of the poem incorporated Southern United States dialect of the time, with ‘ef’ for ‘if’ in the first and third lines
Frank Lebby Stanton was born on 22 February 1857 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America. He became a poet, a lyricist, a newspaper editor, and a columnist under the heading “News from Billville” which later became “Up from Georgia.” Frank Lebby Stanton passed on at 69 years of age on 7 January 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.