Victory
A Poem by Charles Bukowski
what bargains we have made we have kept and as the dogs of the hours close in nothing can be taken from us but our lives.
A note on this poem:
Every person on this planet has made bargains with themselves. Out of a sense of pride and integrity, we have kept such bargains that plead fidelity to our own codes of living. A working class stoicism. Whatever is presented to you, the test is that you stay true to yourself. A line in the sand is somewhere to find. Whatever the code and whether such a code is right or wrong, objectively, to live by it is keeping those bargains made long ago at our lowest. All they can take is our lives, but a life well lived will echo into eternity.