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The Gods of the Copybook Headings: A fresh take on ancient truths
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Mailing Address for the Blue Planet
Your Say
My Back Pages
Search American Digest’s Back Pages
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I
reach my hands and play with pebbles of
destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs
reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive
in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
The Vault
Take It Where You Find It
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Comments on this entry are closed.
I dont understand the reference to “Copybook Headings”
Anonymous would be me; I’m not ashamed of my ignorance of Victorian era arcana
Schoolchildren used to practice writing by copying sentences in a copybook. Usually, in Kipling’s day, the sentences were well-known proverbs, Psalms, or the like. There’s an example of a copybook page at 0:22 in the above video.
“No! I’m not asking you. As a priest of Christ I am commanding you by the authority of Almighty God not to lay hands on your child, not to offer her life in sacrifice to a false god of expedient mercy. I do not advise you, I adjure and command you in the name of Christ the King. Is that clear?”
Thank you so much, Julie. It would be the equivalent of Catechism class for Catholic kids. And a whole lot of Catholics would be fitting subjects for poem/essay.
They “outgrew” their Catholic grounding, in the same way some Brits outgrew the wisdom found in their copybooks. .And what was the result …
I get it now, I really do.
C. S. Lewis wrote about modern, wretched British education in one of his Narnia books, from the 1950s. My own public school education was the squalid remnants in the barrel of modern education. Over the last decade, for me, it has been a pleasure reading manly, Christian poetry.
I suspect it’s time for Recessional to be updated as well for the present day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBra_BjJQY
One good memorable verse deserves another.
https://youtu.be/cOGHCzuinBw
ErisGuy. A Canticle for Leibowitz. One of the greatest novels ever written both for substance and style.