Friday, February 24, 2012

Life's Challenge


                                                               Robert W Service


Robert William Service (1874 – 1958) was a poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon". Service is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough (1907; also published as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses) - Wikipedia

Thy life is thine to make or mar, 
To flicker feebly, or to soar, a star
One is never too old to bear
Neither too young to leave the lair
When is it ideal to venture out
Must it be with lots of shouts
Nary the thought of making noises
Just listen to the inner voices
You are one to decide
Does not require great might
Flick your head and make a toss
The world will bear and it's all yours

Note: One is to create a poem with a prompt from the first two lines of a known poet. I had chosen Kay's prompt for mine (with your kind permission,Ma'am!). It is from Robert W Service, a Scottish Canadian poet. It provides a challenge and I thought it is a good start! Thanks Kay!

Submitted to Mary's Mixed Bag at Real Toad's

19 comments:

  1. Oh, Hank, I think it's wonderful you chose to use one of Canada's favorite poets!
    I love your response to "our" prompt, too, my friend.
    K

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  2. I love the poem, true, meaningful and rhymes nicely.

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  3. Rhymes right through
    And truly inspires the view
    A canadian too
    Although avoid the Yukon if I were you
    Nice and cold
    Things may not be so bold

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  4. nice hank...there is def much in our power when it comes to our life...in the decisions we make...and how we roll....

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  5. Another uplifting piece to lay at the door of Service.

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  6. I just finished saying on Kay's post the she introduced me to a new poet....but I lied! I have read Cremation of Sam McGee a million times but was too young to be bothered with the name of the poet. The two laines are great and i love the message and the delivery of your follow up. Great writing.

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  7. Very nice Hank ~ I like the rhyming words and the meaning of our choices ~

    Happy day ~

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  8. So well done, especially those last two lines. Yes, we all have choices. The world will indeed bear them!

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  9. I think life's other challenge may be to look just like that in a picture. ~Mary

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  10. Robert Service has long been one of my favorite poets.

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  11. You did a fabulous job. This is great.

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  12. This is fantastic...a beautiful response to the challenge..Flick your head and make a toss The world will bear and it's all yours....love this line

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  13. I don't know this guy, I'm going to have to look him up. Thanks for introducing him.

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  14. yep..it's all about the decisions we make and living life boldly..

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  15. Fabulous, it all flowed together and no-one would ever know it wasn't all supposed to be 'together' Life is all about living it and, making our own good or bad choices and paying those consequences for the wrongs ones, isn't it?. Lovely write :)

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  16. Hank, this is definitely excellent. You have picked up the flavor of Robert Service and have created a masterpiece.

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  17. Well Done Hank! I read it again~ It has a great lyrical voice :D

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  18. enjoyed this! we're never too old or too young to start living, and making our choices to affect just how we do so.

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