{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/another-chance",
 "title": "Another Chance",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": "A Dramatic Lyric",
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 29,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
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   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
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   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 64,
  "n_stanzas": 16,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 70,
  "max_indent": 0
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Come, give me back my life again, you heavy-handed Death!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Uncrook your fingers from my throat, and let me draw my breath.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You do me wrong to take me now⁠—too soon for me to die⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah, loose me from this clutching pain, and hear the reason why.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I know I’ve had my forty years, and wasted every one;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yet, I tell you honestly, my life is just begun;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ve walked the world like one asleep, a dreamer in a trance;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But now you’ve gripped me wide awake⁠—I want another chance.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My dreams were always beautiful, my thoughts were high and fine;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No life was ever lived on earth to match those dreams of mine.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And would you wreck them unfulfilled? What folly, nay, what crime!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You rob the world, you waste a soul; give me a little time.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "You’ll hear me? Yes, I’m sure you will, my hope is not in vain:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I feel the even pulse of peace, the sweet relief from pain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The black fog rolls away from me; I’m free once more to plan:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Another chance is all I need to prove myself a man!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The world is full of warfare ’twixt the evil and the good;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I watched the battle from afar as one who understood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shouting and confusion, the bloody, blundering fight⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How few there are that see it clear, how few that wage it right!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The captains flushed with foolish pride, the soldiers pale with fear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The faltering flags, the feeble fire from ranks that swerve and veer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The wild mistakes, the dismal doubts, the coward hearts that flee⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The good cause needs a nobler knight to win the victory.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A man whose soul is pure and strong, whose sword is bright and keen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who knows the splendour of the fight and what its issues mean;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never takes one step aside, nor halts, though hope be dim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But cleaves a pathway thro’ the strife, and bids men follow him.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No blot upon his stainless shield, no weakness in his arm;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No sign of trembling in his face to break his valour’s charm:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A man like this could stay the flight and lead the wavering line;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah, give me but a year of life⁠—I’ll make that glory mine!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Religion? Yes, I know it well; I’ve heard its prayers and creeds,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And seen men put them all to shame with poor, half-hearted deeds.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They follow Christ, but far away; they wander and they doubt.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll serve him in a better way, and live his precepts out.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "You see, I waited just for this; I could not be content",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To own a feeble, faltering faith with human weakness blent.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Too many runners in the race move slowly, stumble, fall;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But I will run so straight and swift I shall outstrip them all.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh, think what it will mean to men, amid their foolish strife,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To see the clear, unshadowed light of one true Christian life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without a touch of selfishness, without a taint of sin⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With one short month of such a life a new world would begin!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And love!⁠—I often dream of that⁠—the treasure of the earth;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How little they who use the coin have realised its worth!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twill pay all debts, enrich all hearts, and make all joys secure.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But love, to do its perfect work, must be sincere and pure.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My heart is full of virgin gold. I’ll pour it out and spend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My hidden wealth with open hand on all who call me friend.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not one shall miss the kindly deed, the largess of relief,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The generous fellowship of joy, the sympathy of grief.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I’ll say the loyal, helpful things that make life sweet and fair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll pay the gratitude I owe for human love and care.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Perhaps I’ve been at fault sometimes⁠—I’ll ask to be forgiven,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And make this little room of mine seem like a bit of heaven.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For one by one I’ll call my friends to stand beside my bed;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll speak the true and tender words so often left unsaid;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And every heart shall throb and glow, all coldness melt away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around my altar-fire of love⁠—ah, give me but one day!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "What’s that? I’ve had another day, and wasted it again?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A priceless day in empty dreams, another chance in vain?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou fool⁠—this night⁠—it’s very dark⁠—the last⁠—this choking breath⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One prayer⁠—have mercy on a dreamer’s soul⁠—God, this is death!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}