Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Loss And Gain
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When I compare
What I have lost with what I have gained,
What I have missed with what attained,
Little room do I find for pride.

I am aware
How many days have been idly spent;
How like an arrow the good intent
Has fallen short or been turned aside.

But who shall dare
To measure loss and gain in this wise?
Defeat may be victory in disguise;
The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings (Library of America)

"The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service."
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow