Teddy Roosevelt | Pursuit of the Strenuous

Teddy Roosevelt was born on this day (October 27th) in 1858. This verse celebrating him is from Red, White & Blue. 

Teddy Roosevelt

Pursuit of the Strenuous

In the spirit of the West, where dawn breaks first,

Lies a truth as deep as the Grand Canyon’s burst,

That the tough life, with its joy and thirst,

Is America’s foundation, where dreams are nursed.

Born of hardy pioneers, in freedom immersed,

Who tamed wild frontiers, where challenges burst,

In their hearts, the rigorous life was nursed,

A testament to the ethos of America first.

In the bustle of the City That Never Sleeps,

A spirit was born, one that leaps

And bounds over barriers, over straits so steep,

A child named Theodore, a promise to keep.

Feeble in body, but fierce in his mind,

To a life of exertion, he was inclined,

He sought the strenuous, leaving frailty behind,

To the strength within, he was aligned.

From the halls of Harvard to the western frontier,

In the face of adversity, he showed no fear,

With Rough Riders at San Juan, the enemy near,

He charged ahead, his purpose clear.

A champion of the strenuous life, he stood,

Believed in hard work, the common good,

His spirit, a beacon in America’s wood,

An enduring evidence, where his legacy withstood.

Bullets of monopoly, he broke apart,

With the strength of his words, the strength of his heart,

For the rights of all, he’d make a start,

In the halls of fairness, he’d leave his mark.

The whispering pines, the roaring falls,

In the wilderness, he heard the calls,

He painted the future with conservation’s scrawl,

On the canvas of nature, he captured us all.

A peacemaker, a Nobel laureate, a voice for the meek,

In the Russo-Japanese conflict, a resolution he’d seek,

For his endeavors of peace, they would speak

Of a man undeterred, of a spirit unique.

A prolific author, a father of six,

His life, a tapestry of colorful bricks.

Yet in his end, as the earthly clock ticks,

In Oyster Bay, the final crucifix.

Through strife, through toil, through the grind,

It’s not just muscle but the resilient mind,

The spirit unyielding, the vision unblinded,

This is the strenuous life, America’s bind.

For it’s not in ease that greatness is found,

But in the ordeal, where will is bound,

In the clamor of the forge, hear the sound,

Of America’s heart, in the strenuous life, we’re crowned.

From Teddy Roosevelt, the clarion call resounds,

A witness to the hard life, in his words and bounds,

An icon, an evangelist, in his spirit, it’s found,

His legacy lingers, in our hearts it astounds.

Through generations, his voice, it guides,

His spirit, a beacon on life’s rugged tides,

Embodying strength, where the strenuous life resides,

In every American heart, his ethos abides.