IF......

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 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!

Be An Active Member

Be an active member,
The kind that would be missed:
Don't be just contented
That your name is on the list.
Do attend the meetings
And mingle with the crowd:
Don't stay at home
And crab both long and loud.
Do take an active part
To help the lodge along.
And take time out to visit
A member who is sick.
Don't leave the work for just a few
And gripe about the clique
There is quite a program scheduled
That means success if done,
And it can be accomplished
With the help of everyone.
So Attend the meetings regularly
And help with hand and heart,
Be an active member
And take an active part.
Think this over, Member
Are we Right or are we Wrong?
Be an Active Member
Don't just belong

By Eric J. Meyer

Poem to a Priest I met

The square beneath me
and on my breast
the Son before me
on my mind
in my heart
a friend across from me
a brother with me
a scotch beside me
(and inside me)
candidate's behind me
- but for a time -
for we are on the level
by the plumb
and on the square.

When love beckons to you...

When love beckons to you, follow him
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind
lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he
is for your growth so he is for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest
branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their
clinging to the earth.

From "The Prophet," Kahil Gibran

"God" from "The Madman", By Khalil Gibran, published 1918.
The hairs on my neck still tingle every time I read it :)

"In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips,
I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, "Master, I am
thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey thee for ever more."
But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.

And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again spoke
unto God, saying, "Creator, I am thy creation. Out of clay hast thou
fashioned me and to thee I owe mine all."
And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain and spoke unto
God again, saying, "Father, I am thy son. In pity and love thou hast
given me birth, and through love and worship I shall inherit thy kingdom."
And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant hills
he passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain and again
spoke unto God, saying, "My God, my aim and my fulfilment; I am thy
yesterday and thou art my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth and
thou art my flower in the sky, and together we grow before the face
of the sun."
Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness,
and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down to her,
he enfolded me. And when I descended to the valleys and the plains
God was there also." 

Simple thoughts for the day

* Am dead. Will rise from grave tomorrow if accompanied by sufficient religious prayer. Bring crucifixes and holy water, as well as bean dip & Guiness.
* Tigger of Borg: Assimilating is what Tiggers do best. (dedicated to my friend Daetrin)
* Lime flies when you're having fun.
* If it's not one thing, it's your mother.
* My inner child is a sassy, obstruperous flirt, too.

My favorite poem

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know
.His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Just arrived

A friend of mine sent me a link to his blog here. I found an immediate draw to the format, and have been looking for a new place to post. Who knows what content may percolate up. Perhaps it will be about WA governor's who look like ferret's, or ineffective Repub candidate's.
Grumble....