HI & TWO FAVOURITE POEMS

Still in Scotland..just wanted to say hi before we head off to the Highlands....

It's cold and wet here. Arrrgh. We're just trying to find out where Robert Burns (Scotish Poet born Alloway, Ayrshire,) was born and where we can go to see more of his work...but there don't seem to be any tours or information about him here so far....aww.

Mum, remember the 'BURNS DAY' we had a few years ago, celebrating Robert Burns, and Burns Beach....and the Haggis we had.....?

Anyway, hope we can find some more about him..and his work before we leave here.

Thanks for your emails...We're thinking of you all.

And also just to let you know, Greg's sinuses have cleared!!! We can sleep!!!!! haha

See you when we get back!

xx

PS These are two poems that i thought i'd share with you...they reallly sums things up for us i think! Both have been on my mind and because i know them so, so well and have offered a lot of comfort in times of reflection. Thought i'd share them..

First one is called, IF by Rudyard Kipling and the second one is called MARRIAGE by Kahlil Gibran


IF by Rudyard Kipling


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 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all 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!


--Rudyard Kipling

And what of marriage?
A poem by Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran

To the question: 'And what of marriage?'

He says: 'You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.'



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