"[Poem about difficulties helping us to grow in knowledge, skills and attitudes. The poem is called 'Victory in Defeat':] <br /> <br />Defeat may serve as well as victory, <br />To shake the soul and let the glory out! <br />When the great oak is straining in the wind, <br />The boughs drink in new beauty, and the trunk, <br />Sends down a deeper root on the windward side. <br />Only the soul that knows the mighty grief, <br />Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come, <br />to stretch out spaces in the heart for joy. <br /> <br />"

Author: Edwin Markham

Notes: This is all of his short poem entitled, 'Victory in Defeat'.