AH poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats, Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me, (For what is my life or any man's life but a conflict with foes, the old, the incessant war?) You degradations, you tussle with passions and appetites, You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds the sharpest of all!) You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses, You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of any;) You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother'd ennuis! Ah think not you finally triumph, my real self has yet to come forth, It shall yet march forth o'ermastering, till all lies beneath me, It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS [OR VILLERS] (1) by THOMAS CAREW THE DOG by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE WALLS DO NOT FALL: 4 by HILDA DOOLITTLE THE SLAVE'S DREAM by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE PRAYER OF AGASSIZ by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER UNDERNEATH THE BOUGH by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE SECOND VOLUME by ROBERT MOWRY BELL |