Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,
As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear!
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear!