unexpected success

if in the final pinch we turn to fight
and faces bloodied find that we have won
it does not seem like victory for none
of us recall just how the final might
was on our side although we're in the right
still it was on their side that the morning sun
was fairer their ranks were dressed and done
while we shambled and stumbled into the light
there isn't much that we could do or say
after such triumph with its taste of ash
but wonder how we came out of it so well
that at the end though tired we had the day
those who foretold it we deemed as rash
and thought that all our chances were in hell