Classic Poem

Shall we know in the Hereafter
All the reasons that are hid?
Does the butterfly remember
What the caterpillar did;
How he waited, toiled, and suffered,
To become the chrysalid?

When we creep so slowly upward;
When each day new burden brings;
When we strive so hard to conquer
Vexing sublunary things—
When we wait, and toil, and suffer,
We are working for our wings.