A Man Saw A Ball Of Gold by Stephen Crane

A man saw a ball of gold in the sky;
He climbed for it,
And eventually he achieved it --
It was clay.

Now this is the strange part:
When the man went to the earth
And looked again,
Lo, there was a ball of gold.
Now this is the strange part:
It was a ball of gold.
Ay, by the heavens, it was a ball of gold.

In this poem, Crane gives the example of a man that has the perseverance and will power to reach the "ball of gold in the sky."  The man found that it was only clay, but still had enough faith to climb for another ball when he saw it.  This time it actually was gold.  Crane shows with this poem that anybody can try to accomplish something, but he or she won't get anything out of it unless they keep trying.