The Men Character Analysis

In War,
Victory should be
Swift.
If victory is slow,
Men tire,
Morale sags.
Sieges
Exhaust strength;
Protracted campaigns
Strain the public treasury.

I have heard that in war
Haste can be
Folly
But have never seen
Delay that was
Wise.

A victorious army
Is like
Pent-up water
Crashing
A thousand fathoms
Into a gorge.

A rushing torrent
Carries boulders
On its flood;
Such is the energy
Of its momentum.

A swooping falcon
Breaks the back
Of its prey;
Such is the precision
Of its timing.

Skillfully deployed soldiers
Are like round boulders
Rolling down
A mighty mountainside.

Military dispositions
Take form like water.
Water shuns the high
And hastens to the low.
War shuns the strong
And attacks the weak.
Water shapes its current
From the lie of the land.
The warrior shapes his victory
From the dynamic of the enemy.

He regards his troops
As his children,
And they will go with him
Into the deepest ravine.
He regards them
As his loved ones,
And they will stand by him
Unto death.

It is the business of the general
To be still
And inscrutable,
To be upright
And impartial.
He must be able
To keep his own troops
In ignorance,
To deceive their eyes
And their ears.

In War,
Victory should be
Swift.
If victory is slow,
Men tire,
Morale sags.
Sieges
Exhaust strength;
Protracted campaigns
Strain the public treasury.

I have heard that in war
Haste can be
Folly
But have never seen
Delay that was
Wise.

A victorious army
Is like
Pent-up water
Crashing
A thousand fathoms
Into a gorge.

A rushing torrent
Carries boulders
On its flood;
Such is the energy
Of its momentum.

A swooping falcon
Breaks the back
Of its prey;
Such is the precision
Of its timing.

Skillfully deployed soldiers
Are like round boulders
Rolling down
A mighty mountainside.

Military dispositions
Take form like water.
Water shuns the high
And hastens to the low.
War shuns the strong
And attacks the weak.
Water shapes its current
From the lie of the land.
The warrior shapes his victory
From the dynamic of the enemy.

He regards his troops
As his children,
And they will go with him
Into the deepest ravine.
He regards them
As his loved ones,
And they will stand by him
Unto death.

It is the business of the general
To be still
And inscrutable,
To be upright
And impartial.
He must be able
To keep his own troops
In ignorance,
To deceive their eyes
And their ears.