The Men Who Lose

THE Men Who Lose.
244.3

When you’ve tonated all the captains who have sailed the Ship of Right,
And bowed before the laurel-crown of them that won the fight
Here then’s another health I call: the vessel tempest-tossed
Drink to the ships that went astray. Drink to the Men Who Lost!

Their name? Their name is legion-their names you never knew;
They would not rise again from shame to take the crown of you.
For what avails the homage of the teeming street and mart,
The statue in the market-place, when worms are at the heart?

A better song is in their ears than ever victor heard,
A higher praise is in their hearts than any gilded word;
They have learned the final lesson, though they learned it w their cost,
The men who lived and suffered, the men who loved and lost.

Through all the world they wander still, these outcasts at your gate,
They have done with all your customs, and they preach the Word of Hate;
Yet are we kin with you, and once at least our paths have crossed.
Then pledge us now-drink deep and long! Stand up: The Men Who Lost!
-Reginald Wright Kauffman,