The Winners

What is the moral? Who rides may read.
  When the night is thick and the tracks are blind,
A friend at a pinch is a friend indeed;
  But a fool to wait for the laggard behind
Down to Gehenna, or up to the Throne,
He travels the fastest who travels alone.

White hands cling to the tightened rein,
  Slipping the spur from the booted heel,
Tenderest voices cry, "Turn again,"
  Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel,
High hopes faint on a warm hearth-stone–
He travels the fastest who travels alone.

One may fall, but he falls by himself–
  Falls by himself, with himself to blame;
One may attain, and to him is the pelf–
  Loot of the city in Gold or Fame
Plunder of earth shall be all his own
Who travels the fastest, and travels alone.

Wherefore the more ye be holpen and stayed,
  Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil,
Sing the heretical song I have made–
  His be the labour, and yours be the spoil.
Win by his aid, and the aid disown–
He travels the fastest who travels alone.

Cheat, take, and travel alone. What is the moral? For me, the answer lies in the title. “The Winners”. But the winners of what? Social games of status and manoeuvring? Familial games of love and loyalty? Or the winners of a very narrow and self-serving game of wealth and gain? If you are playing the game of selfish survival, then you really would be a fool to wait for the laggard. On the other hand, I can name many dramatic, meaningful, and painful stories that have been lived and told of these “Fools”, who go back to save the laggard, though we most often refer to them as Heroes.

The winner will attain his pelf, plunder, and loot. Pelf, money gained dishonestly. Plunder, goods taken by force. Loot, goods taken from an enemy in war. The winner will pick a dead man’s pocket. And if ever you are aided by a friend, let the labour be his, the spoil be yours, and disown the fact that he ever did help you. Those lines from the final stanza are damning. You are no longer being called to only look out for yourself in that final stanza: you are being called to use and exploit even the people who offer to help you. But the hero? What does the hero attain? The hero builds the world with the remains of monsters. From the hoard of Smaug’s stolen gold the characters in The Hobbit rebuild the world the monster destroyed. Having faced the evil in the world, seeking to destroy that which destroys, the hero is rewarded by the community which is saved, and now free from the evil that would still be present had the hero not made the sacrifice and taken the risk. He travels the fastest, who travels alone; but he travels alone.

This is a poem which comes at the end of The Story of the Gadsbys, where Captain Gadsby, a fearsome military captain stationed in India, decides to leave the army out of fear after he is married and has a child to care for. In the eyes of his friend, Captain Mafflin, he becomes a coward, watering his horse before parade to make it move slowly. The “red lips” of his wife have tarnished his sword in its scabbard. It is a poem which can be read at many different levels of depth at the same time, and all can be true at once. It can be read literally as a guide or investigation into becoming a “winner”; a psychopath might read it that way. Is it a warning against the rust and ruin a relationship might bring? Or maybe this poem is a brutal dissection of the life of an eternal bachelor.

I have been travelling alone for the past four years since I left my girlfriend. I wasn’t trying to be the winner when I left her. I still think about her, the relationship we had, and the way I grew from it. I was trying to do what I thought was right. As a result I am travelling the world alone, fast, but alone. I have travelled a long way along the road of becoming the man I sought to become. Thinking I could not change who I was whilst there were people in my life who still treated me as the person I had been, I left behind a relationship which helped me grow, as well as friends who sustained me. I am much changed, but had I stayed with her, had I stayed as part of my community, I believe I still would have been able to become the man I wanted to become. However, I cannot deny that putting myself in new situations, forcing solitude as well as dealing with new people, alone in strange countries with no one but me, forcing growth by necessity, has meant that I have travelled quickly along the road of growth. Though I would not consider myself a winner over the last four years having made many mistakes, I am trying to be the hero of my story.

What is the moral? Be a winner or a hero? Does the winner have no long-term meaningful relationships? Is there no one in his life he wouldn’t readily betray to attain his pelf? Does he act in the world in a manner which makes it a better place for all, including himself? Wouldn’t it be best to be a hero who helps build the community and bolster the lives of the people in your life? Could they offer you the best of themselves, and you them, if you developed yourself perfectly to the constraints and callings of your society and relationships? Or will you be the laggard who gets used? Is it better to use them first, and not take the risks of betrayal or simple disappointment which relationships can bring? Better to be alone then? At least then when you fall, you fall by yourself, with only yourself to blame, and let all the spoils be your own. However, you are by yourself, spoiled, falling, and alone.