The Man You Are

The Man You Are
by 
Ted Olsen

It isn't the man that you might have been
Had the chance been yours again,
Nor the prize you wanted but didn't win
That weighs in the measure of men.
No futile "if" or poltroon "because"
Can rowel your stock to par.
The world cares naught for what never was - 
It judges by what you are.

It isn't the man you hope to be,
If fortune and fate are kind,
That the chill, keen eyes of the world will see
In weighing your will and mind.
The years ahead are a chartless sea,
And tomorrow's a world away;
It isn't the man you'd like to be,
But the man you are today.

There's little worth in the phantom praise
Of a time that may never dawn,
And less in vain regrets for days
And deeds long-buried and gone.
 There's little time on this busy earth
To argue the why and how.
The game is yours if you prove your worth,
And prove it here and now.