God sent us here to make mistakes, To strive, to fail, to rebegin, To taste the tempting fruit of sin, And find what bitter food it makes. To miss the path, to go astray, To wander blindly in the night. But searching, praying for the light, Until at last we find the way. And looking back along the past, We know we needed all the strain Of fear and doubt and strife and pain To make us value peace, at last. Who fails finds later triumph sweet. Who stumbles once walks then with care, And knows the place to cry "Beware" To other unaccustomed feet. Through strife the slumbering soul awakes We learn on errors troubled route The truths we could not prize without The sorrow of our sad mistakes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEGY IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON BROWN OF OSSAWATOMIE [DECEMBER 2, 1859] by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE PHOENIX REBORN FROM ITS ASHES by LOUIS ARAGON PETITION OF A SCHOOLBOY TO HIS FATHER by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD A PLEA FOR FLOOD IRESON by CHARLES TIMOTHY BROOKS JOCHANAN HAKKADOSH: NOTE by ROBERT BROWNING EPISTLE TO THE REV. JOHN M'MATH by ROBERT BURNS |