The Calling by Grantland Rice

The Calling by Grantland Rice

  

We know how rough the road will be,

How heavy here the load will be,

We know about the barricades that wait along the track;

But we have set our soul ahead

Upon a certain goal ahead

And nothing left from Hell to sky shall ever turn us back.

We know how brief all fame must be,

We know how crude the game must be,

We know how soon the cheering turns to jeering down the block;

But there's a deeper feeling here

That Fate can't scatter reeling here,

In knowing we have battled with the final ounce in stock.

We sing of no wild glory now,

Emblazoning some story now

Of mighty charges down the field beyond some guarded pit;

But humbler tasks befalling us,

Set duties that are calling us,

Where nothing left from Hell to sky shall ever make us quit.