| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
| |
| 360. Io Victis |
| | | By William Wetmore Story |
| |
| |
| I SING the hymn of the conquered, who fell in the Battle of Life,— | |
| The hymn of the wounded, the beaten, who died overwhelmed in the strife; | |
| Not the jubilant song of the victors, for whom the resounding acclaim | |
| Of nations was lifted in chorus, whose brows wore the chaplet of fame, | |
| But the hymn of the low and the humble, the weary, the broken in heart, | 5 |
| Who strove and who failed, acting bravely a silent and desperate part; | |
| Whose youth bore no flower on its branches, whose hopes burned in ashes away, | |
| From whose hands slipped the prize they had grasped at, who stood at the dying of day | |
| With the wreck of their life all around them, unpitied, unheeded, alone, | |
| With Death swooping down o’er their failure, and all but their faith overthrown, | 10 |
| |
| While the voice of the world shouts its chorus,—its paean for those who have won; | |
| While the trumpet is sounding triumphant, and high to the breeze and the sun | |
| Glad banners are waving, hands clapping, and hurrying feet | |
| Thronging after the laurel-crowned victors, I stand on the field of defeat, | |
| In the shadow, with those who have fallen, and wounded, and dying, and there | 15 |
| Chant a requiem low, place my hand on their pain-knotted brows, breathe a prayer, | |
| Hold the hand that is helpless, and whisper, “They only the victory win, | |
| Who have fought the good fight, and have vanquished the demon that tempts us within; | |
| Who have held to their faith unseduced by the prize that the world holds on high; | |
| Who have dared for a high cause to suffer, resist, fight,—if need be, to die.” | 20 |
| |
| Speak, History! who are Life’s victors? Unroll thy long annals, and say, | |
| Are they those whom the world called the victors—who won the success of a day? | |
| The martyrs, or Nero? Spartans, who fell at Thermopylæ’s tryst, | |
| Or the Persians and Xerxes? His judges or Socrates? Pilate or Christ? | |
| |
|
|
|
