HAVE YOU HEARD THAT IT WAS GOOD TO GAIN THE DAY?

I ALSO SAY IT IS GOOD TO FALL, BATTLES ARE LOST

IN THE SAME SPIRIT IN WHICH THEY ARE WON.…

 

VIVAS TO THOSE WHO HAVE FAIL’D!

AND TO THOSE WHOSE WAR-VESSELS SANK IN THE SEA!

AND TO THOSE THEMSELVES WHO SANK IN THE SEA!

AND TO ALL GENERALS THAT LOST ENGAGEMENTS, AND ALL OVERCOME HEROES!

AND THE NUMBERLESS UNKNOWN HEROES EQUAL TO THE GREATEST HEROES KNOWN!

—Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”