He who hits the ground hits himself by that act. Anger hurts the angry man, not the other. The certainty as well as the incidence of the harm are brought out by the analogy. Great may be the wrong done to you; like many tongued fire it may burn, but it is worth while yet to struggle and rein back one's anger, if at all possible. The poet here goes mentally through the difficulties that arise in the practice of what he preaches.