Failures

’Tis better to have tried in vain,
    Sincerely striving for a goal,
  Than to have lived upon the plain
    An idle and a timid soul.

’Tis better to have fought and spent
    Your courage, missing all applause,
  Than to have lived in smug content
    And never ventured for a cause.

For he who tries and fails may be
    The founder of a better day;
  Though never his the victory,
    From him shall others learn the way.