  A MAN said unto his angel: “My spirits are fallen thro’, And I cannot carry this battle, O brother! what shall I do? “The terrible Kings are on me, With spears that are deadly bright, Against me so from the cradle Do fate and my fathers fight.” Then said to the man his angel: “Thou wavering, foolish soul, Back to the ranks! What matter To win or to lose the whole, “As judged by the little judges Who hearken not well, nor see? Not thus, by the outer issue, The Wise shall interpret thee. “Thy will is the very, the only, The solemn event of things; The weakest of hearts defying Is stronger than all these Kings. “Tho’ out of the past they gather, Mind’s Doubt and Bodily Pain, And pallid Thirst of the Spirit That is kin to the other twain, “And Grief, in a cloud of banners, And ringletted Vain Desires, And Vice, with the spoils upon him Of thee and thy beaten sires, “While Kings of eternal evil Yet darken the hills about, Thy part is with broken sabre To rise on the last redoubt; “To fear not sensible failure, Nor covet the game at all, But fighting, fighting, fighting, Die, driven against the wall!”
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