Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness; You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs, And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory. Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance, Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot And not to be trapped by withering laurels. And in you I have found aloneness And the joy of being shunned and scorned. Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield, In your eyes I have read That to be enthroned is to be enslaved, And to be understood is to be leveled down, And to be grasped is but to reach one's fullness And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed. Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion, You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences, And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings, And urging of seas, And of mountains that burn in the night, And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul. Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage, You and I shall laugh together with the storm, And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us, And we shall stand in the sun with a will, And we shall be dangerous.
You can find this poem in Gibran’s timeless work—The Prophet.
I made a mistake on the source of this poem. Got it confused with a future post. My bad. This is a stand alone poem and I'm not too sure which of his works it was published in. Sorry about that. But the "The Prophet" is still a must read.
In this poem Gibhran embraces defeat ... the ultimate defeat of being alone and unwanted with nothing but his own songs and silences. Then he shows us how this is only the beginning of his journey to becoming a full spiritual person with the inner resources to be dangerous and unconquerable. Gibhran was wonderful. He had a wonderful way of seeing the trials and tribulations of this world from the perspective of eternity, and man's ultimate purpose on this earth. He also had a wonderful way with words!