This I would claim for my success—not fame nor gold, <br />Nor the throng's changing cheers from day to day, <br />Not always ease and fortune's glad display, <br />Though all of these are pleasant joys to hold; <br />But I would like to have my story told <br />By smiling friends with whom I've shared the way, <br />Who, thinking of me, nod their heads and say: <br />'His heart was warm when other hearts were cold. <br />'None turned to him for aid and found it not, <br />His eyes were never blind to man's distress, <br />Youth and old age he lived, nor once forgot <br />The anguish and the ache of loneliness; <br />His name was free from stain or shameful blot <br />And in his friendship men found happiness.'<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/success-116/
