The successful man has thrust himself <br />Through the water of the years, <br />Reeking wet with mistakes -- <br />Bloody mistakes; <br />Slimed with victories over the lesser, <br />A figure thankful on the shore of money. <br />Then, with the bones of fools <br />He buys silken banners <br />Limned with his triumphant face; <br />With the skins of wise men <br />He buys the trivial bows of all. <br />Flesh painted with marrow <br />Contributes a coverlet, <br />A coverlet for his contented slumber. <br />In guiltless ignorance, in ignorant guilt, <br />He delivered his secrets to the riven multitude. <br />"Thus I defended: Thus I wrought." <br />Complacent, smiling, <br />He stands heavily on the dead. <br />Erect on a pillar of skulls <br />He declaims his trampling of babes; <br />Smirking, fat, dripping, <br />He makes speech in guiltless ignorance, <br />Innocence.<br /><br />Stephen Crane<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-successful-man-has-thrust-himself-2/
