I have lost,—but I have won.
I have won, through earnest striving,
Guerdons above all the loss,
Hopes once faded, now reviving
Twining round the sacred Cross:
Sorrow pale hath been my teacher;
Hopes bereft, my gentle friends;
Graves of the loved, my silent preacher,
Where dust with dust so sadly blends.
I have lost,—but I have won.