Another Tack
When you suspect you’re going wrong,
Or lack the strength to move along
With placid poise among your peers,
Because of haunting doubts or fears:
It’s time for you to shift your pack,
And steer upon another tack!
When wind and waves assail your ship,
And anchors from the bottom slip;
When clouds of mist obscure your sun,
And foaming waters madly run:
It’s time for you to change your plan
And make a port while yet you can!
When men laugh at your woeful plight,
And seek your old repute to blight;
When all the world bestows a frown,
While you are sliding swiftly down:
It’s time for you to show your grit.
And let the scoffers know you’re fit!
When Failure opes your luckless door,
And struts across the creaking floor;
When Fortune flees and leaves you bare,
And former friends but coldly stare:
It’s time for you to take a tack,
And show the world you’re coming back!
-Lilburn Harwood Townsend
See more motivational quotes
TACK: noun
Nautical.
| a. | a rope for extending the lower forward corner of a course. |
| b. | the lower forward corner of a course or fore-and-aft sail. |
| c. | the heading of a sailing vessel, when sailing close-hauled, with reference to the wind direction. |
| d. | a course run obliquely against the wind. |
| e. | one of the series of straight runs that make up the zigzag course of a ship proceeding to windward. |
