(306-308) Works of Love VIII
The Victory of Reconciliation in Love Which Wins the Vanquished
There are many ways to conquer
In the end, we all must fail
When there is no God to honor
Our worldly life must pale
There are others we can vanquish
And over them we proudly stand
No matter that we cause great anguish
We hold the world at our command
Just then we can say “Everything is decided”
But that expression is one most equivocal
Everything can be lost; we feel ourselves derided
What's worldly is always conditional
We can thereby never stand
But keep moving lest we falter
Such victory makes much demand
In a course we cannot alter
Of victory the world continually reckons but one
The divine world continually knows it's two
External glory will be eclipsed and done
It's the inward one that's true
If we fail in the inner struggle
It must come from our own hand
We become but swiftly muddled
When our triumphs have returned to sand
Our victories to God we need to surrender
And we must do so in great humility
It does us good when we remember
That's the path to our true victory