Classic Poem

AFTER defeat
There is one road to take;
After despair and shame,
Return the way you came.

Peak crowns peak,
Boulders, the ridge.
Go back, go back,
Over the broken bridge,
The lost track.

Dare
The thin air.
Draw breath
Before an icy death.

Then having seen
The face of fear
Grow clear,
And the lost way plain,
Take to the road again.