Survivors

 

It may well take you another ten years
To become an overnight success,
But you’ll make it eventually:
Survivors always do.

Losers and life are leaf and stream;
Survivors are salmon who struggle against the current,
Though never understanding why,
Struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds:
Fatigue, disease, and most of all, man,
To swim inevitably into their predestined spawning grounds
Spread their seminal spores,
And fertilise new ideas,
That future generations may benefit
From their struggle, self-sacrifice and altruism.

Losers, once they are in the gutter, remain there;
Survivors, though they may temporarily sink lower
Than a snake’s belly
Pull themselves up by their bootstraps
To attain previously undreamed of heights, and greatness.

Losers, once they are down, stay down;
Survivors come back,
Not once, but however many times are necessary.

Losers know when they are beaten;
Survivors don’t, because they never are.

Survivors always make it,
Some just take a bit longer than others, that’s all.

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