"Keep A-Pluggin' Away"
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
I've a humble little motto
That is homely, though it's
true, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
It's a thing when I've an object
That I always try to do, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
When you've rising storms to
quell,
When opposing waters swell,
It will never fail to tell, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
If the hills are high before
And the paths are hard to climb,
Keep a-pluggin' away.
And remember that successes
Come to him who bides his
time, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
From the greatest to the least,
None are from the rule released.
Be thou toiler, poet, priest,
Keep a-pluggin' away.
Delve away beneath the surface,
There is treasure farther down, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
Let the rain come down in tor-
rents,
Let the threat'ning heavens frown,
Keep a-pluggin' away.
When the clouds have rolled
away,
There will come a brighter day
All your labor to repay, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
There'll be lots of sneers to swal-
low,
There'll be lots of pain to bear, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
If you've got your eye on heaven,
Some bright day you'll wake up
there,
Keep a-pluggin' away.
Perseverance still is king;
Time its sure reward will bring;
Work and wait unwearying, ----
Keep a-pluggin' away.
Source: Lyrics of Lowly Life, 1895, in Black American Literature: A Critical History, ed. Roger Whitlow (Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams, and Company, 1974).