PoemsPoems on hope and courage
Poems for exam season, a bad result, a hard week or the morning assembly. They do not shout. They keep you company and point at the next step.
English
Start Again
The page is torn. The ink has run. The thing you built has come undone. Sit down. Breathe out. Pick up the pen. The oldest skill is: start again. The farmer does it every year. The spider does it, thread by thread. The sun, who failed to stay last night, is trying once more overhead.
ShareYourGroupSmall Steps
You need not see the mountain top. You need to see the next grey stone. Step there. Now find the one beyond. That's how all climbing's ever done. The summit is a pile of steps that someone did not fail to take. So lace your shoes. The path is long, and every step is yours to make.
ShareYourGroupThe Result
A number on a printed sheet has come to say how much I'm worth. It knows my marks. It does not know my stubbornness, my jokes, my mirth. It did not see the nights I tried, the things I learnt that were not asked. I'll read it, fold it, put it by, and get on with my real task.
ShareYourGroupLamp
One lamp cannot light up the town. It lights a doorstep and a face. But lamps are lit from other lamps, and soon there's light in every place. So do the little good you can, in your own lane, with your own hand. You are not asked to be the sun. A lamp will do. Just stand.
ShareYourGroupMonday
The week stands waiting at the door With all its lists and loads. I cannot do the whole of it. I can do what today holds. One page, one call, one thing begun, One cup of tea, one breath. The mountain does not ask for more Than just the next small step.
ShareYourGroupAfter the Rain
It rained all night upon the roof, As if it would not end. The lane was dark, the power gone, The umbrella would not mend. At six the clouds had nothing left. The crows began to call. The sun came up on wet green leaves, As if no rain at all.
ShareYourGroup
हिन्दी
कोशिश
गिरना कोई हार नहीं है, गिरकर न उठना हार है। चींटी से पूछो, कितनी बार चढ़ने को वह तैयार है। बीज अँधेरे में रहकर ही धरती चीरकर आता है। जो रुकता नहीं राहों में, वही मंज़िल को पाता है। आज नहीं तो कल होगा, मेहनत रंग दिखाएगी। बस तू चलना मत छोड़ना, राह ख़ुद बनती जाएगी।
ShareYourGroupछोटा दीया
मैं छोटा सा एक दीया हूँ, सूरज बनना काम नहीं। अपने हिस्से का अँधियारा दूर करूँ, आराम नहीं। एक से दूजा, दूजे से तीजा, दीप से दीप जलेगा। तू बस अपनी बाती सँभाल, उजियारा आप चलेगा।
ShareYourGroupपरीक्षा
प्रश्न पत्र से डरना कैसा, यह तो बस एक काग़ज़ है। जो पढ़ा है, वही लिखना है, बाकी सब तो आदत है। घबराहट को बाहर छोड़ो, गहरी साँस भीतर लो। एक एक प्रश्न, एक एक क़दम, बस इतना ही तो करना है।
ShareYourGroupफिर से
पतझड़ आया, पत्ते झड़े, पेड़ खड़ा है, रोया नहीं। उसे पता है: फिर आएगी हरियाली, वह खोया नहीं। तुम भी थोड़ा धीरज रखना, मौसम बदलते रहते हैं। जो जड़ों को थामे रहते हैं, वे ही फिर से खिलते हैं।
ShareYourGroupथोड़ा सा
पूरा पहाड़ नहीं चढ़ना है, बस अगला क़दम बढ़ाना है। पूरी किताब नहीं पढ़नी है, बस आज का पन्ना पढ़ जाना है। थोड़ा थोड़ा रोज़ चलेंगे, थोड़ा थोड़ा बढ़ जाएँगे। जो आज असंभव लगता है, एक दिन उसको कर जाएँगे।
ShareYourGroup
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
ਹੌਸਲਾ
ਰਾਤ ਜਿੰਨੀ ਵੀ ਕਾਲੀ ਹੋਵੇ, ਸਵੇਰਾ ਆ ਕੇ ਰਹਿੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਡਿੱਗ ਕੇ ਜਿਹੜਾ ਫੇਰ ਉੱਠੇ, ਜੱਗ ਉਹਨੂੰ ਬੰਦਾ ਕਹਿੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਨਿੱਕੇ ਨਿੱਕੇ ਕਦਮ ਪੁੱਟ ਕੇ ਲੰਮੇ ਪੈਂਡੇ ਮੁੱਕਦੇ ਨੇ। ਹੌਸਲੇ ਵਾਲਿਆਂ ਅੱਗੇ ਆ ਕੇ ਪਰਬਤ ਵੀ ਝੁਕਦੇ ਨੇ।
ShareYourGroupਨਤੀਜਾ
ਨੰਬਰ ਘੱਟ ਆਏ ਤਾਂ ਕੀ ਹੋਇਆ, ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਅਜੇ ਬਾਕੀ ਹੈ। ਇੱਕ ਪਰਚਾ ਮਾੜਾ ਹੋਇਆ, ਹਿੰਮਤ ਅਜੇ ਬਾਕੀ ਹੈ। ਮਾਂ ਨੇ ਸਿਰ ਤੇ ਹੱਥ ਰੱਖਿਆ, ਬਾਪੂ ਬੋਲਿਆ: ਕੋਈ ਨਾ। ਅਗਲੀ ਵਾਰੀ ਫੇਰ ਸਹੀ, ਪੁੱਤਰਾ, ਦਿਲ ਛੋਟਾ ਕਰੀਂ ਨਾ।
ShareYourGroup
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Whom these poems are for
A student the night before a paper. A friend whose result was not what they hoped. Someone between jobs, or after a long illness, or starting again in a new city. The poems here do not promise that everything will turn out well, because nobody can promise that. They say smaller, truer things: that today's step is enough, that a bad result is a day and not a life, that a small lamp is still a light.
How to send one
- Send the poem alone, with one line of your own: "Thought of you." Do not add advice. A person who is struggling has usually had plenty.
- Send it privately, never in a group.
- Do not ask for a reply. "No need to answer" is a kind thing to add.
- Follow it, a day or two later, with something practical: a call, a meal, an offer of help with one specific thing.
At assembly and before exams
"Small Steps", "कोशिश" and "परीक्षा" are short enough for a morning assembly in exam season, read by a student, followed by half a minute of silence. Teachers can write one stanza on the board and leave it there for the week. For a class that has had a disappointing result, "The Result" says what teachers often want to say and find hard to put into words.
When a poem is not enough
Poems keep people company. They are not treatment. If you or someone you know has felt hopeless for weeks, has stopped eating or sleeping properly, or has spoken of self-harm, please reach out today to a trusted adult, a doctor or a counsellor. Asking for help is the brave step these poems are about.
Classic poems of courage
Three famous poems on the same theme are printed in full on our English classics page: Kipling's "If", Henley's "Invictus" and Emily Dickinson's "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers", each with a note on its meaning.
Good to know
- Send one to a friend without adding advice. The poem is enough.