Inspiration

From the Newark Evening Star, May 7, 1915. By Berton Braley.

Though the world is harsh and the game goes wrong
    And the skies are far from clearing,
And out of the vast uncaring throng
    There’s never a word that’s cheering;
Though fortune shun me soon and late,
    And destiny jolt and shove me,
I’ll keep my nerve and I’ll laugh at fate,
    While I have a friend to love me!

If I have one friend who is leal and true,
    One friend who will not alter,
I’ll fight the world and the devil, too,
    And never my heart shall falter.
Though I know despair and I know defeat
    And the clouds hang black above me,
I’ll fear no fate that is mine to meet
    While I have a friend to love me!