Defeat
Kahlil Gibran
1883 to 1931
Drag the words to the correct places to complete the poem. To reset the game, click on the "Reset Game" button located below the poem. This will clear all the words you've placed in the blanks, returning them to the word bank and resetting the poem to its original state with empty blanks.
Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;
You ______ dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,
And sweeter ______ my heart than all world-glory.
Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,
Through you I know that I ______ yet young and swift of foot
And not to ______ trapped by withering laurels.
And in you I have ______ aloneness
And the joy of being shunned and scorned.
Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,
In your ______ I have read
That to be enthroned is to ______ enslaved,
And to be understood is to be leveled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one’s ______
And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.
Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,
You shall hear ______ songs and my cries and my silences,
And none ______ you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,
And urging of seas,
And of mountains that burn ______ the night,
And you alone shall climb my steep ______ rocky soul.
Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,
You ______ I shall laugh together with the storm,
And together ______ shall dig graves for all that die in us,
______ we shall stand in the sun with a will,
______ we shall be dangerous.