Friday, July 24, 2009

IF you see a shark.....



(shark bowl by Gary Rith)

Enough with picking on those dirty dog republicans and my overactive flamingos.
Dig this poem by Kipling: (although depending on whom you ask, Kipling was a bit of a macho fool....)

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!

7 comments:

Ron said...

I'm actually reading The Jungle Books right now. Great stuff. Just finished the story where the holy man saves the village from a mudslide. The closest I'd ever gotten to Kipling was Disney. These are great stories.

Busy Bee Suz said...

Shark bowl? that could help with a dieter!!!

Linda Starr said...

Look at those teeth!

Anonymous said...

my best friend carried that poem with him in his wallet for years

Miss Heather said...

I LOVE that shark! Michael LOVES sharks so I might have to order one for his b-day!

kate et jim said...

I had to memorize that poem in 8th grade.

It's embedded in my brain!

Lynda said...

Love the poem and the shark bowl is amazing!