Start Where You Stand

When a man who had been in the penitentiary applied to Henry Ford for

employment, he started to tell Mr. Ford his story. "Never mind," said

Mr. Ford, "I don't care about the past. Start where you stand.”

  Start where you stand and never mind the past,

    The past won't help you in beginning new,

  If you have left it all behind at last

    Why, that's enough, you're done with it, you're through;

  This is another chapter in the book,

    This is another race that you have planned,

  Don't give the vanished days a backward look,

    Start where you stand.

  The world won't care about your old defeats

    If you can start anew and win success,

  The future is your time, and time is fleet

    And there is much of work and strain and stress;

  Forget the buried woes and dead despairs,

    Here is a brand new trial right at hand,

  The future is for him who does and dares,

    Start where you stand.

  Old failures will not halt, old triumphs aid,

    To-day's the thing, to-morrow soon will be;

  Get in the fight and face it unafraid,

    And leave the past to ancient history;

  What has been, has been; yesterday is dead

    And by it you are neither blessed nor banned,

  Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead,

    Start where you stand.

By Berton Braley.

From "A Banjo at Armageddon."