Other’s Successes
CAN you go to another who wins in the fight
And give him a hand-shake that 's true?
Do you find yourself feeling a sense of delight
In the good work another may do?
Or deep in your heart are there envy and hate,
When you see someone getting ahead?
Do you sneer at his luck and rail at your fate?
If you do all your courage has fled.
If you haven’t learned to rejoice in the deed
Of your brothers and give them a cheer,
You haven’t discovered the pathways that lead
To genuine happiness here.
If you cannot say to a brother, ‘ I ’m glad
You have conquered,' and give him your hand,
Your life must be gloomy and woefully sad,
You 're building your mansion on sand.
Did you secretly gloat when another had failed,
Did you sneer at the efforts he made?
Did it inwardly please you to see him assailed,
Did you chuckle to see him outplayed?
If this is the part you have chosen to play,
If you are as selfish as this,
Though he falls in the thick and the heat of the fray,
Your failure is greater than his.
Other works by Edgar Albert Guest...
