Posted on 12/03/2012 12:28:44 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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 again 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!
Unfortunately, in a combat situation this is usually revised to read:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
you probably have no idea how many guns are currently aimed at you.
This brings to mind a movie called “Operation Petticoat”.....the Captain (Grant, I think) was stuck with a bunch of nurses in the opening days of WWII and was running from the Japs (Japanese). He had a playboy “scrounger” (Tony Curtis) who was the supply officer.
When they were back at port stocking up and making ready to run from the Japs, they attacked and started bombing....during the attack the captain asked where Curtis was. The deck hand said something like “I dunno, sir. When they started the attack Ensign (Curtis) lit outta here in a deuce and a half yelling something about ‘in confusion there is profit’.....”
In Band of Brothers, a solder suffered from hysterical blindness and was stuggling very much with it - dying. One soldier finally told him how HE dealt with the possibility of death. The solder said “When you admit you are already dead, it becomes much easier to cope.”
:)
:)
/johnny
It is a criminal shame that the children of the last several decades have been deceived with the Disney version of The Jungle Book, rather than ALL of the originals (First & Second).
Man, Kipling was not only a great writer, he was a great observer. His description of the drought settling on the deep jungle is amazing.
Also, I greatly enjoyed “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat”.
“But they do not know that the saint of their worship is the late Sir Purun Dass, K.C.I.E., D.C.L., Ph.D., etc., once Prime Minister of the progressive and enlightened State of Mohiniwala, and honorary or corresponding member of more learned and scientific societies than will ever do any good in this world or the next.”
Disney is evil.
/johnny
ALWAYS great to read! Thanks, CW!
Can we start at the beginning again?
If you can...
There is, as G-d is my Witness, hardly a day that goes by that I don’t hearken to this poem and mention it just as often to friends.
Looking around at the pandemic of insanity in this world, I wonder sometimes how some of us manage to stay sane...if we actually do. And sometimes I even wonder if I am really sane or if I just hope I am.
Oh so true, my friend. A little research on Uncle Walt turns up stomach churning, hair raising details on just what he was up to.
Evil beyond one's imagination.
Walt or what became of his empire ?
Google 'monarch' and 'MK ultra'. Mind boggling.
It will keep you busy for a long time.
I have about that much shelf space full of Nevil Shute Complete Works, but my Kipling is confined to my Android phone & laptop. All Gutenberg Project and other public domain sources.
We have friends in Central America with 5 small kids. On the long rides out to an Indian village I’d read to them from the Jungle Books and the Just So Stories. Very enjoyable for them AND for me.
/johnny
Your a Better Man than Me Gunga Din
This is one of the poems my fifth grade teacher made us memorize. Great teacher. Detroit Public Schools, 1967.
“........ 1967.”
The beginning of the end of public education in America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.