To give one’s all, to have tried and failed
is a nobler fate than is received
by those, who through sheer luck prevailed
and in themselves, deceived
to feel, to no avail,
that hollow victories achieve
a sense of honor not made stale
from the rightful victor they bereave
For true success is never found in gold and trophies frail
nor in the hearts content to cleave
from the earned, the ascendant hail;
that greatest moment of reprieve
The only prize worth winning is the final breath exhaled,
after blood and sweat spent to conceive
a triumph, fought with tooth and nail
to in one’s self, at last, believe.
-Victory