AH poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats!
Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me!
(For what is my life, or any man's life, but a conflict with foes-
the old, the incessant war?)
You degradations-you tussle with passions and appetites;
You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds, the sharpest of
all
You toil of painful and choked articulations-you meannesses;
You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of
any
You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother'd ennuis;
Ah, think not you finally triumph-My real self has yet to come
forth;
It shall yet march forth o'ermastering, till all lies beneath me;
It shall yet stand up the soldier of unquestion'd victory.
