Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SUCCESS, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS Poet's Biography First Line: If he succeeds whose coffers, heaped with gold Last Line: This is success, and this my prayer shall be. Subject(s): Brotherhood; Success | ||||||||
If he succeeds whose coffers, heaped with gold, Are red with ruined and despairing lives, The man who owns a mint to coin tears, Expert to wring a farthing from a heart, -- Though all the world pay homage, all the world Envy the wretch, -- if this is to succeed, My pride and all my hope shall be to fail! If he succeeds who bids the magpie crowd, Tossing his name upon its chattering tongues, Talk, write, and dream of him, and they obey, While he they praise, alive on lips of men, Has breathed his soul into the bubble, fame, And lives an empty life, -- if he succeeds, Be mine a life of failure to the end! If he succeeds, the man of strenuous brain, Skilled in the deeps and heights of many a lore, Bent with the plundered wealth of libraries, But ignorant of love, and ignorant Of all the roses and the stars of life, -- Though men unite to wonder and applaud, If this is called success, be mine defeat! But these are not success; success it is To front the angry tumult of a world With Right for comrade; faithfully to work; To wear contentment shining on the brow; Above the gathered treasures of the globe To reckon brotherhood, and make it mine, -- This is success, and this my prayer shall be. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUCCESS IN THE TOUCHES OF YOUR HAND by DAVID IGNATOW ARTHUR'S PARTY by CAROLYN KIZER POET WHO HAS IT MADE by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 91. LOST ON BOTH SIDES by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI PARAPHRASE; FAILURE AND SUCCESS by LEVI BISHOP A BATTLE SONG (WRITTEN IN THE WORLD WAR) by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS |
|