Success And Failure

I do not think all failure's undeserved,

And all success is merely someone's luck;

Some men are down because they were unnerved,

And some are up because they kept their pluck.

Some men are down because they chose to shirk;

Some men are high because they did their work.

I do not think that all the poor are good,

That riches are the uniform of shame;

The beggar might have conquered if he would,

And that he begs, the world is not to blame.

Misfortune is not all that comes to mar;

Most men, themselves, have shaped the things

they are