YES, here is undisguised defeat -- You say, "No further fight to lose." With colors in the dust, 't is meet That tears should flow and looks accuse. I echo every word of ruth Or blame: yet have I lost the right To praise with you the unfaltering Truth, Whose power -- save in me -- has might? Another day, another man: I am not @3now@1 what I have been; Each grain that through the hour-glass ran Rescued the sinner from his sin. The Future is my constant friend; Above all children born to her Alike her rich affections bend -- She, the unchiding comforter. Perhaps on her unsullied scroll (Who knows?) there may be writ at last A fairer record of the soul For this dark blot upon the Past. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A RUNNABLE STAG by JOHN DAVIDSON THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS [JANUARY 8, 1815] by THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH THE KEARSARGE (1894) by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE THE SHIP STARTING by WALT WHITMAN PERFECT WOMAN by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |