You Learn By Living
BY J. PATRICK LEWIS
for Eleanor Roosevelt
Who showed the world the world itself
Was awkward, shy and plain.
A high-born leader in a long,
Low decade full of pain.
Poor farmers, blacks, homeless, the least
Advantaged hoped to see,
Magnificently unarrayed,
Pure human dignity.
A lady first, the great first lady
Looked fear in the face,
And said, There is no room for fear
When courage take its place.
J. Patrick Lewis, “You Learn by Living (for Eleanor Roosevelt)” from Vherses: A Celebration of Outstanding Women, published by Creative Editions. Copyright © 2005 by J. Patrick Lewis. Reprinted by permission of J. Patrick Lewis.
Source: Vherses: A Celebration of Outstanding Women (Creative Editions, 2005)