The masterplan selects the enemy,
Combats the foe with wisdom and with deeds.
No rules are written for this enmity
No soft-sell satisfies our utmost needs.
The masterplan is fraught with many stops.
It cannot cross the battlefield's gross beams.
It drives until its own momentum drops
But still falls short, far short of early dreams.
The masterplan-amended comes along,
Reels back our ignominious retreat,
And nothing now can turn this new drive wrong,
And victory is wrung out of defeat.
But with our wages altered in the end
We only learn how easily we bend.
Jay Cohen