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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

"Youth"

Youth  is not the time of life; it is a state of mind,
it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips, and supple knees;
it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination,
a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of Life.

Youth  means a temperamental predominance of Courage,
over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease;
This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty,
Nobody grows olde merely by a number of years.
We Grow Olde by Deserting our Ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin,
but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the Soul.
Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair; these bow the heart,
and turn the Spirit back to dust.

Whether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being's Heart,
the Love of wonder.
The sweet amazement at the stars, and starlike things and thoughts;
the undaunted challenge of events,
 the unfailing childlike appetite for what comes next;
and the Joy of the game of Living.

You are as young as your Faith,
as olde as your doubt; as young as your Self-Confidence,
as olde as your fear, as young as your Hope,
as olde as your despair.

In the central place of your Heart there is a wireless station:
So long as it Receives messages of Beauty, Hope, Cheer,
Courage, and Power, from others, and the Infinite
~So Long Are You Young.

When the wires are all down, and the central places of your Heart 
are covered with snows of pessimism, the ice of cynicism,
then you are grown olde, indeed. 
But as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism,
there is Hope you may die Young at eighty.*

~Samuel Ullman
(1840-1924)
U.S.A.

~Beannaichte'
24 July, 2012

*I located three slightly different renditions of Mr. Ullman's poem. I am unable to determine the original work, since they are each published as such. If you have any information that would be helpful, please leave me a comment, below. I can be contacted at my Twitter site, also. i.e.,@ beannaichte ~I am blessed to be joined by many talented and caring women and men, on Twitter. Join us!~Thank you! 

~Our Thoughts and Prayers continue to go out to the Families and Friends of those who were slain, and the injured, in Aurora, Colorado. May you find Peace and Healing, during this time, and in the days that lay ahead. ~Beannaichte'
 

 

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