Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires a sorest need. Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory As he defeated — dying —
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
Success is counted sweetest - The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1960)