Meme of the Day
Pilfered from all of you, my lovely cross section of the intelligentsia:
After you read this, post some poetry on your journal.
Daisy Goodwin calls this poem one of Instant Moral Fiber. And she's right.
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!
-- Rudyard Kipling
and, from jiminyc:
A book you own no one on your Friends List (other than solla_sollew) has (that you know of):
And the Ass Saw the Angel, by Nick Cave
A CD you own that no one on your friend's list owns (that you know of):
Paris Ailleurs, Etienne Daho
A DVD/VHS tape you own that no one on your friend's list owns (that you know of):
Sex, Lies and Videotape
A place that you've been that no one on your friend's list has been to (that you know of):
The McDonalds outside the train station in Takasaki, Japan
After you read this, post some poetry on your journal.
Daisy Goodwin calls this poem one of Instant Moral Fiber. And she's right.
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!
-- Rudyard Kipling
and, from jiminyc:
A book you own no one on your Friends List (other than solla_sollew) has (that you know of):
And the Ass Saw the Angel, by Nick Cave
A CD you own that no one on your friend's list owns (that you know of):
Paris Ailleurs, Etienne Daho
A DVD/VHS tape you own that no one on your friend's list owns (that you know of):
Sex, Lies and Videotape
A place that you've been that no one on your friend's list has been to (that you know of):
The McDonalds outside the train station in Takasaki, Japan