The Interview

[Joel]

Not exactly a success story, but motivating nonetheless (I think).

 The Interview

Young man, the world's outside that door.
A theater full of risky charms,
With real and paranoid alarms:
Great heights for throwing oneself down
And shallows of a depth to drown-
Sawdust enough to save a clown.
Let others stay and mind the store:
What are you saving yourself for?

Young man, don't wait till you know more.
Too much the combat course around,
You'll never find the battleground.
The graves of some that played it cool,
And took no chance, nor looked the fool,
Are hid beneath the graduate school.
This music is to face before
You find out even what's the score.

So to the youth spoke old wisdom,
With leathery face and polished knob,
With golden smile and gold watch fob,
Arthritic knuckles, creaking knees,
And yet in this world well at ease
On sixty years of dignities.
The young man wondered going home,
What was he saving himself from?

-Howard Nemerov (from The Next Room of the Dream)

[Vhan]

"sawdust enoughf to save a clown"-that line kinda baffled me, but the rest was really interesting.

[johnnymac]

Arthritic knuckles, creaking knees reminds me of my old man.

[Anthony]

Let others stay and mind the store:
What are you saving yourself for?

That one spoke to me too directly I think. I have a bad habit of beholding myself to others when I have no real need to. Deep down I know those lines to be truth, yet I allow myself to add the artificial burdens of duty to employers who have no interest in returning the favor of loyalty.

[chithanh119]

awesome interview

[Greg]

The graves of some that played it cool,
And took no chance, nor looked the fool,
Are hid beneath the graduate school.

That's my favorite part.  Cool poem, thanks for posting!