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A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Aspiration

Robert Service

When I was daft (as urchins are),
And full if fairy lore,
I aimed an arrow at a star
And hit—the barnyard door.

I’ve shot at heaps of stars since then,
but always it’s the same—
A barnyard door has mocked me when
Uranus was my aim.

So, I’ll shoot starward as of yore,
Though wide my arrows fall;
I’d rather hit a big barn door
Then never aim at all.
Online text © 1998-2009 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Rhymes of a Roughneck
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