("The Story of the Gadsbys") <br /> <br />What the moral? Who rides may read. <br />When the night is thick and the tracks are blind <br />A friend at a pinch is a friend, indeed, <br />But a fool to wait for the laggard behind. <br />Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, <br />He travels the fastest who travels alone. <br /> <br />White hands cling to the tightened rein, <br />Slipping the spur from the booted heel, <br />Tenderest voices cry " Turn again!" <br />Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel, <br />High hopes faint on a warm hearth-stone-- <br />He travels the fastest who travels alone. <br /> <br />One may fall but he falls by himself-- <br />Falls by himself with himself to blame. <br />One may attain and to him is pelf-- <br />Loot of the city in Gold or Fame. <br />Plunder of earth shall be all his own <br />Who travels the fastest and travels alone. <br /> <br />Wherefore the more ye be helpen-.en and stayed, <br />Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil, <br />Sing the heretical song I have made-- <br />His be the labour and yours be the spoil. <br />Win by his aid and the aid disown-- <br />He travels the fastest who travels alone!<br /><br />Rudyard Kipling<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-winners/
