Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory

As he defeated-dying
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

I submitted my first ms to a publisher and they passed on it. Not the end of the world, I’m sure it is the first of many. Unfortunately, that knowledge doesn’t remove the sting, now does it?

Celia