English poem
The successful man has thrust himself
by Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
The successful man has thrust himself Through the water of the years, Reeking wet with mistakes -- Bloody mistakes; Slimed with victories over the lesser, A figure thankful on the shore of money. Then, with the bones of fools He buys silken banners Limned with his triumphant face; With the skins of wise men He buys the trivial bows of all. Flesh painted with marrow Contributes a coverlet, A coverlet for his contented slumber. In guiltless ignorance, in ignorant guilt, He delivered his secrets to the riven multitude. "Thus I defended: Thus I wrought." Complacent, smiling, He stands heavily on the dead. Erect on a pillar of skulls He declaims his trampling of babes; Smirking, fat, dripping, He makes speech in guiltless ignorance, Innocence.
More by Stephen Crane
- The Black Riders & Other Lines/Black riders came from the sea.
- The Black Riders & Other Lines/Once There Came a Man
- The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top
- The ocean said to me once
- The trees in the garden rained flowers.
- There was a man and a woman
- There was a man who lived a life of fire
- Tradition, thou art for suckling children