todays race
Sidelong leaf and rain
Soft wet ground with steep incline
mudclaw1 Nike nil
todays race
Sidelong leaf and rain
Soft wet ground with steep incline
mudclaw1 Nike nil
Originally Posted by Old Whippet
That's great OW, hope you had a good one. My mudclaws have been sat on a shelf today due to work, Sunday didn't feel right at all.
Cow and Calf sunrise
Golden orb on horizon
Low in bruised sky
Poacher turned game-keeper
The Race
by D. H. Groberg
"Quit, give up, you're beaten" they shout at you and plead,
"There's just too much against you, this time you can't succeed".
Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.
The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”
But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten...
but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.
“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.
They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
head high and proud and happy -- no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”
And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”
(click on the title for the full version)
Last edited by XRunner; 02-11-2009 at 08:10 PM.
Blimey! There's more. That one's definitely an AL.
My favourite of the three.
The Bob Graham Round
A classic Lakeland round of 42 questions, to be completed in less than 24 hours.
Am I really ready for this?Where are my pacers?Did I start my stopwatch?How can we be lost when we’re still on the streets of Keswick?What do you mean you don’t recognise this summit?Does it matter that there’s a bubble in my compass?Shouldn’t it feel harder than this?Isn’t that just the finest sunrise you’ve ever seen?Why don’t you just sod off with your incessant offerings of jelly babies?Is going the other way round any easier?What the **** do you mean we’ve gone wrong?Would my feet feel better if I ran in socks?Couldn’t they design bananas that are easier to open?Why don’t I remember this path?Could I walk the rest of the way and still get round in time?What led me to believe that this would ever be a good idea?Do you think I care you’ve spotted a flipping Kestrel?Why couldn’t it be cooler?Why couldn’t it be warmer?Is that sheep laughing at me?Why didn’t I do more training miles?How on earth did Billy do this in 14 hours?Why do I feel stronger again?Why couldn’t that feeling have lasted for more than 5 minutes?Are you sure you’re taking me on the right route?Can you do my shoelace up please as I can’t reach it?Where am I against the schedule?Why didn’t I reccy this section just once more when I had the chance?How come the sun set so quickly?Why didn’t I choose the longest day?Why have my pacers all got better head torches than me?When will the wind ever be on my back?Why can’t I pick my bloody feet up?Would it really matter if I just lay down here for a bit?Why are my pacers running too fast?Can I just die here quietly please?Will walking backwards help?Who would know if you just pushed me up this little bit?How much time have I got?Are they the lights of Keswick?Why have they moved Moot Hall further up the hill?Did I ever doubt I would do it?
Evening all....
X Runner...thank you for posting that poem, I think you may have read my mind, i am going to read it several times before I attempt a fell run this sunday....
HHH- Wow the bob graham poem was great! i particularly liked the line "Why can't I pick up my bloody feet".....
I acquired 2 beautiful books today, 2 little hardback books in the everyman library pocket poets series one on "the four seasons" and the other Yeats....HHH you were asking about non sickly sweet poems about babies, I hope you like this one...I did
A Cradle Song
The angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.
God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with his mood.
I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.
more from me laters
November Night
Listen.
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
Adelaide Crapsey
Lovely stuff. I was wondering who the Sailing Seven were and found this...
A Cradle Song
The angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.
God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with his mood.
I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.
more from me laters
In this delightful poem, which expresses the affection of God and the Cosmos for a small infant, Yeats is refering to the Pleiades, also known as M45, the Seven Sisters, SED, or Subaru. It's an open cluster in the constellation Taurus that actually has nine named stars in it. The Pleiades were nymphs, the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea nymph Pleione -- their group name is derived from their mother's name. The cluster is visible in the Mediterranean at night during the summer from mid-May to early November, which was the sailing season in antiquity -- thus they are known as "The Sailing Seven".
I will never look at a Subaru on the M45 again in quite the same way!
Sorry for spoiling the mood
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote