Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ACHIEVEMENT, by HORTENSE KING FLEXNER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ACHIEVEMENT, by                    
First Line: Achievement must now be weighed
Last Line: Of many bereavements.
Subject(s): Heroism; Success; Heroes; Heroines


Achievement must now be weighed
In a new scale,
For the tasks of heroes
Have become the accomplishments
Of adolescents.

Tomorrow also, those who dare insanely
Shall be called
By a smiling name.
The ski-jumper and aviator
Must perform
For a heavy-eyed future.

But if the dimensions of pain
Grow in proportion
To the extended perfection of the body,
We shall be lost.
For who then will remember
The journey of Orpheus,
Or consider Hell
More than an evil hour?
In that generation
Loss shall not be accompanied by music,
Nor the suffering of one
Give the sensation
Of many bereavements.





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