SUCCESS: AN ANONYMOUS POEM

 

                                SUCCESS: AN ANONYMOUS POEM

          Oxford dictionary defines success as “the fact that you have achieved something that you want and have been trying to do or get:  for example the fact of becoming rich or famous or of getting a high social position.

          Some synonyms of success are: achievement, accomplishment, attainment, fulfillment, victory, triumph, favourable or positive result,

          Success demands right effort, right means, right time, right intention, right struggle, right place, requisite patience, proper discipline and adequate consistence.

          The struggle for success does not end in zero achievement. The title of a poem written by an English poet Arthur Hugh Clough (819-1861) is: “Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.”  He says that no struggle remains fruitless; however  its result may not be immediately apparent.

          Given below is a bit different anonymous poem on “What Is Success? ”       

Success is speaking words of praise

In cheering other people’s ways.

In doing just the best you can

With every task and every plan.

 

It’s silence when your speech would hurt,

Politeness when your neighbor’s curt.

It’s deafness when the scandal flows,

And sympathy with others’ woes.

 

It’s loyalty when duty calls;

It’s courage when disaster fails,

It’s patience when the hours are long;

It’s found in laughter and in song.

 

It’s in the silent time of prayer.

In happiness and in despair.

In all of life and nothing less,

We find the thing we call success.

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

13 November 2025.