HAMLIN GARLAND
Hannibal Hamlin Garland (1860–1940) was an American poet and writer. He grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and settled in Boston, where he established a career best known for his fiction about the hardworking Midwestern farmers. In this motivational poem, Garland emphasizes that too many men are complacent in their homes, protected from the rain and the wind. He wants men to return to nature where they have to prove their manliness and survive on their own. A modern formulation of this message can be found in John Eldredge’s great book Wild at Heart.
Do you fear the force of the wind,
The slash of the rain?
Go face them and fight them,
Be savage again.
Go hungry and cold like the wolf,
Go wade like the crane.
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The palms of your hands will thicken,
The skin of your forehead tan—
You’ll be ragged and swarthy and weary
But—you’ll walk like a man.