A Poem: "Success"

The quote that came up on my iGoogle homepage is from a verse of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was one of those quotes that struck a chord with me, partly because of its meaning and partly because of its lyricism. The whole poem is copied below, for your enjoyment. I would reflect now but can't due to math homework and a particularly sharp pain in my shoulder tonight.

Success

We have not wings, we cannot soar;
But we have feet to scale and climb
By slow degrees, by more and more,
The cloudy summits of our time.

The mighty pyramids of stone
That wedge-like cleave the desert airs,
When nearer seen, and better known,
Are but gigantic flights of stairs.

The distant mountains, that uprear
Their solid bastions to the skies,
Are crossed by pathways, that appear
As we to higher levels rise.

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.

(http://holyjoe.org/poetry/longfellow1.htm)