Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,
As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear!
[Published in "A Masque of Poets" at the request of "H.H.," the author's fellow-townswoman and friend.]
How terribly un-American to so deeply understand the loser’s bitter-sweet comprehension of success. But those who fail know best what success means, and those who succeed are often quite oblivious to it.
This photograph is available as a greeting card.
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June 13, 2007 at 10:15 am
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