Facing The Foe Poem by Martin Farquhar Tupper

Yes! out of the worst, on the instant, right out!
It is better - ay best - so to show it;
There is weakness in every suspicion and doubt,
There is strength in each truth when we know it:
For a fact is of God, - and upon it I'll stand,
By Providence ordered and guided,
Assured that my Father's omnipotent hand
My rod as my staff hath provided.

Tell frankly the worst; I can fearlessly face
All foes that contend with me fairly;
My soul with a will to the battle I brace,
And fail [do I ever fail?] rarely:
It is only when fancy suggests a false hope
For a moment to perils I truckle,-
But show me the worst,- with its evil to cope
My sword to my wrist I will buckle!

With a strong water-crew the more pressure more force;
And thus through calamity's hour
The Christian knight-errant is spend on his course
And stablish'd and girded in power;
And the worst it is best to be told at the first
That so we may meet it and slay it,
Not hiding like cowards as fearing that worst
But facing the phantom to lay it!