Poems (Hoffman)/Success and Failure
SUCCESS AND FAILURE.
Who drains the goblet of Success To find it ever brimming,Proves not to me by simply thisHis undisputed worthinessTo wear the crown of kingliness That pride is often dimming.
Who finds but Failure's bitter dregs In some great undertaking,Proves not by simply this to meThat rightly and deservedlyHe forfeits true nobility, All claim to honors breaking.
'Tis glorious to succeed and wear Success's living laurel,But when ennobling Effort's crownBut serves to weight that effort down,As growing reefs of high renown Reveal the hidden coral.
If some vain ego of disdain Usurp the throne empyreal,Some proud usurper to displaceKing Kindness and each kindred grace,And Queen Humility's sweet face Of charms ethereal.
Success becomes poor Failure's twin Blessed with prosperity,One, plunged in misery and want,Bearing low Failure's dismal taunt,The other, in delight to flaunt His title of feigned verity.
Yet Failure hath ofttimes a worth To minds too high to grovel,He, who beholds his chosen starGrow day by day more faint and far,Yet lets not this his nature mar, Is great without approval.
And see'st thou one whom worth equips, To be the great of sect or nation,Yet through whose wisdom-guarded lipsNo word of egotism slips;And through whose daily acts there trips No phantom of self-approbation,
That one sets first a Christian grace In Grandeur's jeweled coronet;That pearl whose heaven-enkindled raysShine on undimmed by slight or praise,Rebuking false Ambition's gaze, Dazed by Fame's golden parapet.