IF (You'll Be a Man, My Son)

Edward Bonver's Poetry Lover's Page ^ | Don't know | Rudyard Kipling

[Quix]

My mother's sister gave me that in a Hallmark card when I was in Jr High for my birthday.

I think I made the "mistake" of asking God to help me reach such an exalted state of maturity some day.

Still not there.

But the tuition for TOWARDS that goal has been plenty expensive . . . sometimes hyper expensive.

[littlehouse36]

We had to recite this after a night of sorority hazing. I was 16. It's been my favorite poem since.

[Jo Nuvark]

Great tag line.

[Quix]

Thanks thanks.

Might have been less . . . fiesty if had more characters to use . . . On the other hand . . . they well deserve that and more.

Have a blessed Sunday and week ahead.

[YdontUleaveLibs]

1776
Before
Twas not while England's sword unsheathed
Put half a world to flight,
Nor while their new-built cities breathed
Secure behind her might;
Not while she poured from Pole to Line
Treasure and ships and men--
These worshippers at Freedoms shrine
They did not quit her then!

Not till their foes were driven forth
By England o'er the main--
Not till the Frenchman from the North
Had gone with shattered Spain;
Not till the clean-swept oceans showed
No hostile flag unrolled,
Did they remember that they owed
To Freedom--and were bold!


After

The snow lies thick on Valley Forge,
The ice on the Delaware,
But the poor dead soldiers of King George
They neither know nor care.

Not though the earliest primrose break
On the sunny side of the lane,
And scuffling rookeries awake
Their England' s spring again.

They will not stir when the drifts are gone,
Or the ice melts out of the bay:
And the men that served with Washington
Lie all as still as they.

They will not stir though the mayflower blows
In the moist dark woods of pine,
And every rock-strewn pasture shows
Mullein and columbine.

Each for his land, in a fair fight,
Encountered strove, and died,
And the kindly earth that knows no spite
Covers them side by side.

She is too busy to think of war;
She has all the world to make gay;
And, behold, the yearly flowers are
Where they were in our fathers' day!

Golden-rod by the pasture-wall
When the columbine is dead,
And sumach leaves that turn, in fall,
Bright as the blood they shed.



Rudyard Kipling

[ROTB]

For refuge from naysayers,
To protect and gather strength,
I include FreeRepublic in Christly prayers,
that we have this place at length,
In this hall of cyberspace,
where evil has no place,
and men of virtue gather,
I hope not for to blather.

ROTB

[dr_lew]

Then perhaps you have misunderstood the seriousness of the situation.

Where's your scansion? It's "Then you don't understand the situation." - Heard it first from Frank Gifford on MNF - 70's? 80's? Anyway, I'm sure it was old then.

[Brad’s Gramma]

BTTT!!!

[RAY]

You folks amaze me with your poetic awareness!

Give us more!

[ellery]

Yes indeed. For our military, and for our Rummy.

“What you can do or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Goethe

“All work is a seed sown; it grows and spreads, and sows itself anew.” Thomas Carlyle

"Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare." Voltaire

“We are still masters of our fates. We are still captains of our souls.” Winston Churchill

[ellery]

And a few more.

Simple and brave, his faith awoke,
Ploughmen to struggle with their fate;
Armies won battles when he spoke,
And out of Chaos sprang the state.
Robert Bridges

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
Thomas Paine

[ellery]

And one more, for Mr. Rumsfeld.

Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul.
Mark Twain