The Enduring
John Gould Fletcher
If the autumn ended
Ere the birds flew southward,
If in the cold with weary throats
They vainly strove to sing,
Winter would be eternal;
Leaf and bush and blossom
Would never once more riot
In the spring.
If remembrance ended
When life and love are gathered,
If the world were not living
Long after one is gone,
Song would not ring, nor sorrow
Stand at the door in evening;
Life would vanish and slacken,
Men would be changed to stone.
But there will be autumn’s bounty
Dropping upon our weariness,
There will be hopes unspoken
And joys to haunt us still;
There will be dawn and sunset
Though we have cast the world away,
And the leaves dancing
Over the hill.
The Strength That Whispers: A Reflection on John Gould Fletcher’s The Enduring
The Enduring reminds us that true strength isn’t loud or flashy—it’s the quiet presence that survives wind, fire, time, and grief. Fletcher paints a portrait of something deeper than survival: endurance as grace. His words echo the experience of those who’ve walked through hardship without applause and kept going, not because it was easy, but because stopping wasn’t an option. In a world obsessed with speed and noise, this poem is a whispered invitation to honor what holds us up when everything else falls away.
