A Poetical Salute to the Class of 2020!

Hello everyone –



This fortnight’s quotations are dedicated to all our listmembers who are receiving their academic degrees as members of the Class of 2020. These are some of my all-time favorite pieces of poetical wisdom, packaged together just for you.




“If” by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)



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 impostors 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 them 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.




“The Heritage”

By Abbie Farwell Brown (1871-1927)



No matter what my birth may be,

No matter where my lot is cast,

I am the heir in equity

Of all the precious Past.



The art, the science, and the lore

Of all the ages long since dust,

The wisdom of the world in store,

Are mine, all mine in trust.



The beauty of the living Earth,

The power of the golden Sun,

The Present, whatsoe’er my birth,

I share with everyone.



As much as any man am I

The owner of the working day;

Mine are the minutes as they fly

To save or throw away.



And mine the Future to bequeath

Unto the generations new;

I help to shape it with my breath,

Mine as I think or do.



Present and Past my heritage,

The Future laid in my control; —

No matter what my name or age,

I am a Master-soul!




“THE HIGHER LIFE” (1913)

By Madeline S. Brigham



There are royal hearts, there are spirits brave,

There are souls that are pure and true;

Then give to the world the best you have,

And the best will come back to you.



Give love, and love to your life will flow,

And strength in your utmost needs;

Have faith, and a score of hearts will show

Their faith in your work and deeds.



Give truth, and your gift will be paid in kind,

And a song a song will meet;

And the smile which is sweet will surely find

A smile that is just as sweet.



Give pity and sorrow to those that mourn,

You will gather in flowers again

The scattered seeds from your thoughts outborne,

Though the sowing seemed in vain.



For life is the mirror of king and knave,

‘Tis just what we are and do;

Then give to the world the best you have,

And the best will come back to you.





Until we meet again – Ultreia! (Onward!)



Rob J