I
Life: Success
[Published in “A Masque of Poets” at the request of “H.H.,” the author’s fellow-townswoman and friend.]
Success is counted sweetestBy those who ne’er succeed.To comprehend a nectarRequires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple hostWho took the flag to-dayCan tell the definition,So clear, of victory,
As he, defeated, dying,On whose forbidden earThe distant strains of triumphBreak, agonized and clear!