Quote#Speech
I crawled. I could not speak or see
Quote byStephen Vincent Benét · 1898–1943
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Quality of Courage.
English (original)
I crawled. I could not speak or see Save dimly. The ice glared like fire, A long bright Hell of choking cold, And each vein was a tautened wire, Throbbing with torture — and I crawled. My hands were wounds. So I attained The second Hell.
— Stephen Vincent Benét
More from Stephen Vincent Benét
It is not given me to trace The lovely laughter of that face
The iron ice stung like a goad, Slashing the torn shoes from my feet, And all the air was bitter sleet. And all the land was cramped with snow, Steel-strong and fierce and glimmering wan, Like pale plains of obsidian. — And yet I strove — …
And then a light winked like an eye. . . . And very many miles away
The fight was done. Even gods tire Of fighting...
Life was a storm to wander through. I took the wrong way. Good and well, At least my feet sought out not Hell!
Like a great word once known and lost And meaning all things.