Classic Poem

Happy are they and charmed in life
Who through long wars arrive unscarred
At peace. To such the wreath be given,
If they unfalteringly have striven -
In honor, as in limb, unmarred.
Let cheerful praise be rife,
And let them live their years at ease,
Musing on brothers who victorious died -
Loved mates whose memory shall ever please.

And yet mischance is honorable too -
Seeming defeat in conflict justified
Whose end to closing eyes is hid from view.
The will, that never can relent -
The aim, survivor of the bafflement,
Make this memorial due.