[central_va]

Rudyard Kipling

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 imposters 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 wornout 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 breath 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!

[Baynative]

And then I know that all I've learned, my kid assumes.
And all my deepest worries must be his cartoons.
And still I'll try to tell him all the things I've done,
relating to what he can do when he becomes a man.
And still he'll stick his fingers in the fan.

-John Sebastian

[NEMDF]

I had a good friend who was a POW in Viet Nam for 6 years. He told me he used this poem to keep his sanity during the ordeal.

[Vigilanteman]

Kipling was one of the greatest poets of all time. My father, grandfather and uncle recited him to me constantly.

More than four decades later (and two after Dad died), I can still remember a talk he had to me at about age 14.

"Son," he said, "I know you are getting to the age where you will be experiencing some strong feelings and changes in your body, if you haven't already. This will especially be true when you are around girls. But remember this: God gave man sufficient blood circulation to supply either his brain or his dick, but never at the same time. Until you are with the girl you are married to and plan to spend the rest of your life with, never allow your brain to be completely shut down, not even for a little while. If you ever find yourself in a situation when the shutdown is happening, get away quickly."

Dad's advice was excellent. There were a few dates which I went on and found that brain shutdown thing was indeed happening. I cut them short and even in a couple of cases, ended them abruptly.

Yeah, it was a little embarrassing at the time. In a few cases, it was even embarrassing enough that I couldn't bring myself to even talk to the girl again. But when I found the one I wanted to marry, it was well worth it. The number of people you can trust to be around when your brain shuts down are few and rare. And probably the only one you can trust unequivocally in that situation is the one you marry.

The frequency of these "close encounters" may have diminished with the years, but the passion has not.

[Ribeye]

I have this Kipling poem framed and on the wall in each of my boys bedrooms.

[huldah1776]

sounds like George Washington

[TADSLOS]

Beat me to it. Kinda says it all.

[Vendome]

LOL!!!

That is from the book “Ode to Barack”.

I bought a copy for a friend had just spent $35,000 to see Obama at Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas house.

I actually reworded that exact tome you posted with our modern Obama as the character and read it to her.

It is now framed and sets next to the book in her library.

[aquila48]

Beautiful!