| The "Other" Rudyard Kipling Poem (for 04/20/01): "If..." If you can go through life in pain and suffering Or live a moment, in shoes of poorer master Yet never give way to selfish whining Or lose sight of greener pasture If you can will yourself to restrain And doing so, carry out your wills Or keep above that which is inane Be a bird, not a fishy fish of gills If you can help the luckless peasant When you glory in honor and fame Yet never count it a bit unpleasant When you stand alone yourself in luckless shame If you can stand out in the spotlight Yet keep your ego in control If you can trek through endless night Yet never count your endless labors droll If you can craft new artwork for the public But not lose heart if they reject your work If you can do a thing that I set forth here Race, gender, age, forget those petty jerks Who would undermine the spirit within you Your life has worth, keep going til the dawn Take heart, for there's Divine blood in you And when you can go on, you will; you will go on. Editor's Note: "Droll" is DEFINITELY not the word I want, meaning "quaintly amusing" or "surprising", but it rhymes. I orignally thought that it meant somehing like "boring". But I was wrong. |