The Trickiness of Words

Author’s Note: This essay is analyzing the text of a poem and showing the real meaning of phrases throughout the poem.

Climb 'Til Your Dream Comes True

By: Helen Steiner Rice


Often your tasks will be many,
And more than you think you can do. 
Often the road will be rugged
And the hills insurmountable, too.
But always remember,
The hills ahead are never as steep as they seem.
And with faith in your heart
Start upward.
And climb 'till you reach your dream.. 
For nothing in life that is worthy
Is ever too hard to achieve
If you have the courage to try it, 
And you have the faith to believe. 
For faith is a force that is greater
Than knowledge or power or skill, 
And many defeats turn to triumph
If you trust in God's wisdom and will. 
For faith is a mover of mountains, 
There's nothing that God cannot do, 
So, start out today with faith in your heart, 
And climb 'til your dream comes true!

Messages are everywhere around you and can be mistaken for what they’re not.  When you first read  the poem you will see “Often the road will be rugged”. It is not actually speaking of a road that is bumpy.  This metaphor  is trying to say  that there is going to be bumps in life when reaching for your goal. Don’t expect a nice and easy ride when doing something big. The tone of this peace is ambition which makes the reader feel encouraged.  Nobody said it would be easy but it is always worth it. Don’t stop reaching for your goal even if the ride is bumpy, which leads me to my next paragraph.

“The hills ahead are never as steep as they seem” is saying that even though it seems like a long way to get where you want to be, if you start now and go little by little, that a lot becomes into something simple. Don’t judge on where you are, but on how far you have come since you started. Everything will look harder than is really is, but you have to start doing it if you want to achieve for it to be accomplished.

“For faith is a mover of mountains”. This is a very powerful metaphor that really has a spiritual meaning. If you have faith in yourself and in what you are doing, knowledge, power and skill don’t matter. In your mind you are so set into thinking you can that nothing can stop you. Many defeats turn into triumph because you refused to give up and had faith that you could. Knowledge, power,  and skill are traits you could have, but if you think you can’t, then you can’t.

We are all taught to never give up on our dreams. All the pro athletes always say a line that we all think is cliché, and that line is “If you work hard you can do anything”. In the end everything is mental. If you have a strong mind you can do the impossible. If you are the most athletic person in the world, but don’t believe you can do something, you can’t! This is why I think the last line is the most defiant part of this poem, which says “so, start out today with faith in your heart, And climb 'til your dreams come true!"