Life | Mother To Son | To Artina | See It Through | Invictus | The Bridge Builder | Gentleman
Psalm 33 | If | Myself | Chain of Gold

LIFE
A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,
A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,
A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,
And never a laugh, but moans come double;
And that is life!
A crust and a corner that loves makes precious,
With the smile to warm and the tears to refresh us;
And joy seems sweeter when cares come after,
And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter;
And that is life!
-- Paul Lawrence Dunbar

MOTHER TO SON
Well son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair,
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.
But all the time
I’s been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’s still goin honey,
I’s still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
-- Langston Hughes

TO ARTINA
I will take your heart
I will take your soul out of your body
As though I were GOD.
I will not be satisifed
With the touch of your hand
Nor the sweet of your lips alone.
I will take your heart for mine.
I will take your soul.
I will be GOD when it comes to you.
-- Langston Hughes

SEE IT THROUGH
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders
Plant your feet and take a brace;
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See It Through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And you future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See It Through!
Even hope may seem but futile
When with troubles you’re beset
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, what e’er you do
Eyes front, Head high to the finish
See It Through!
-- Edgar Albert Guest

INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as a pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud;
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years,
Finds, and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my faith.
I am the captain of my soul.
Ernest Henley

THE BRIDGE BUILDER
An old man going a lone highway
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and wide and steep,
With waters rolling cold and deep.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
You are wasting your strength with building here.
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way.
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at eventide?
The builder lifted his old gray head.
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said.
"There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
The chasm that was nought to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim –
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."
-- W. A. Dromgoole

GENTLEMAN
A Gentleman is a person who is clean
Inside and outside…
Who neither looks up to the rich nor down on the poor…
A Gentleman is a person who can lose without squealing, and who can win
Without bragging…
A Gentleman is a person who is
Considerate to women, children and
Old people, who is too brave to lie,
Too generous to cheat and too sensible
To loaf…
A Gentleman is a person who takes his
Share of the world’s goods and let
Other people take theirs.
-- Unknown Author

PSALM 133
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethern to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious ointment upon the
head, that ran down upon the beard, even
Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts
Of his garments; As the dew of Hermon,
And as dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the LORD commanded the blessings,
Even life for evermore.

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 lost, 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 have gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which say to them "HOLD ON!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virture,
Or walk with Kings, nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count on you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Your is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a MAN, my son!
Rudyard Kipling

"MYSELF"
I have to live with myself, and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.
I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself up in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and self,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to think as I come and go
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself - and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free...
By Edgar Albert Guest

CHAIN OF GOLD
FRIENDSHIP IS A CHAIN OF GOLD
SHAPED IN GODS ALL PERFECT MOLD
EACH LINK A SMILE, A LAUGH, A TEAR,
A GRIP OF THE HAND, A WORD OF CHEER
STEADFAST AS THE AGES ROLL,
BINNDING CLOSER SOUL TO SOUL
NO MATTER HOW FAR OR HEAVY THE LOAD
SWEET IS THE JOUNERY AN FRIENDSHIP'S RODE
THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL A CHAIN OF GOLD.

Home | Chapter History | Calender | Service Programs | Sponsors | National Website | District Website | Contact US