<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 26pt; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">Hold on a While</span></b><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span style="font-size: 26pt; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div dir="ltr"><br><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>by Amos Russel Wells<br><p class="excerpttext" style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">And all the earth is blue,</span></span><br>And all the fiends are on your track<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">And howling after you;</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="excerpttext" style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When courage falls and hope decays<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">And fair ambition dies,</span></span><br>And all your dreamland is ablaze<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Beneath the ebon skies;</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When you would fain renounce the goal,<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Nor plod another mile,</span></span><br>Oh, straighten up your drooping soul,<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">And—just—hold on—a while!</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hold on a while! the darkest night<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">May bring the fairest day.</span></span><br>Hold on a while! the good, the right,<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Will always find a way.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hold on! for is Jehovah dead?<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">His love an empty song?</span></span><br>Hold on! have heaven's armies fled<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Before the hosts of wrong?</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hold on! for still some strength remains,<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Nor yield you till you must;</span></span><br>A newer life may flood your veins;<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Born of a larger trust.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A newer life—hold on for that!<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">A lily from the mud!</span></span><br>The greening peak of Ararat<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Emerging from the flood!</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The clouds are shattered by the sun;<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">The earth is all aglow;</span></span><br>Away the howling devils run,<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">And back to hell they go!</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hold on for that! Do what you can,<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Nor prove a craven elf;</span></span><br>For heaven never helped a man<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">Until he helped himself.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">And when your fondest hopes are dead<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">And fate has ceased to smile.</span></span><br>'Tis then it pays to lift your head<br><span class="indent-single"><span style="display: inline-block;">And—just—hold on a-while.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>————————————————-<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://www.MoscowCares.net</span></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>