A man said unto his Angel: 
"My spirits are fallen low, 
And I cannot carry this battle: 
O brother! where might I go? 

"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, witless 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 sovereign measure 
And only events of things: 
The puniest heart, defying, 
Were stronger than all these Kings. 

"Though 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."