What if all the battles we fight, win, or lose, don’t matter in the end? Langston Hughes digs deep into the grave silence of victory and loss alike.
Peace
Langston Hughes
We passed their graves:
The dead men there,
Winners or losers,
Did not care.
In the dark
They could not see
Who had gained
The victory.
Reflection:
Langston Hughes compresses a profound truth into a few stark lines: once life ends, so does the relevance of conflict. “Winners or losers” vanish into the same darkness, blind to triumph or failure. In death, there are no trophies—only the stillness of peace and the quiet suggestion that perhaps the fight was never the point.