I refuse to let the world beat it out of me- With slashing knives and grasping claws, Whips and weights and the crushing sea, And winter no spring ever thaws. What greater victory could I hope to command Than to be as I've always been- To live as I have always planned, Dreams unchanged and will unbroken? All this adversity, here to force me away, To ruin and rip me apart; But I will do it anyway: Laugh and sing and craft, of life, art.