Why does a Pyrrhic victory
feel like a defeat
Can peace be other than the
straightforward opposite of war
How often is a ceasefire
not the end of hostility
What might make an armistice
be the seed of new enmity
What if an enemy soldier
is often not the real enemy
If you should die for your country
is it for the regime, the people or a concept
How do you know whether
your enemy’s enemy is not your friend
If fifty-one percent of people are for a war
what about the forty-nine percent who aren’t
Can losers be
the winners of hearts and minds
Does triumph erode
the value of victory
When one rival triumphs in love
is only one heart broken
Is one man’s triumph ever
only the other man’s defeat…
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, merrildsmith in Poetics challenges us to write about Triumph and Defeat.