There is more to the hurdles than clearance;
It's a metaphor, some people say,
For the virtues of grim perseverance
Over obstacles placed in one's way --
Because roadblocks in life aren't anything new,
So don't try going round them, just keep charging through;
If you pick them off one at a time in a queue
You'll prevail at the end of the day.
In my cynical youth I derided
Such pronouncements as dimly naive,
But in retrospect now I've decided
That there's no reason not to believe:
If your problems in life all come evenly spaced
And seen well in advance, and all perfectly placed,
And the lot of them only come up to your waist,
There's no limit to what you'll achieve!