'Tis so much joy ! 'Tis so much joy ! If I should fail, what poverty ! And yet, as poor as I Have ventured upon a throw ; Have gained! Yes ! Hesitated so This side the victory! Life is but life, and death but deat! Bliss is but bliss and breath but breath! And if, indeed, I fail, At least to know the worst is sweet. Defeat means nothing but defeat, No drearier can prevail! And if I gain, - oh, gun at sea, Oh, bells that in the steeples be, At first repeat it slow ! For heaven is a different thing Conjectured, and waked sudden in, And might o'erwhelm me so! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPIRIT WHOSE WORK IS DONE (WASHINGTON CITY, 1865) by WALT WHITMAN AT THE GRAVE OF BURNS; SEVEN YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THEODORE ROOSEVELT by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE BLANK MISGIVINGS OF A CREATURE MOVING ABOUT IN WORLDS NOT REALIZED: 2 by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH HYMNOS AHYMNOS, OR UMNOS AUMNOS by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH NOLI AEMULARI by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH |