I have hoped, I have planned, I have striven,
To the will I have added the deed; The best that
was in me I've given, I have prayed, but the gods
would not heed.
I have dared and reached only
disaster, I have battled and broken my lance;
I am bruised by a pitiless master That the weak and
the timid call Chance.
I am old, I am bent, I
am cheated Of all that Youth urged me to win;
But name me not with the defeated, For tomorrow -
again, I begin.