Defeat

• Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;
• You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,
• And sweeter to my heart than all worldglory.
•  
• Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,
• Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot
• And not to be trapped by withering laurels.
• And in you I have found aloneness
• And the joy of being shunned and scorned.
•  
• Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,
• In your eyes I have read
• That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
• And to be understood is to be levelled down,
• And to be grasped is but to reach one's fullness
• And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.
•  
• Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,
• You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,
• And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,
• And urging of seas,
• And of mountains that burn in the night,
• And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.
•  
• Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,
• You and I shall laugh together with the storm,
• And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,
• And we shall stand in the sun with a will,
• And we shall be dangerous.