L for LOVE

I have been in 'Love' so many times (or so I thought) that a friend of mine told me that 'I wore my heart on my sleeve'. She was probably right although, I didn't agree with her at the time! My first teenage love was a boy called Tony, we used to meet most nights and ride our bikes around the neighbourhood, generally Laughing and doing the things teenagers did in the sixties. Sadly my parents and his totally disapproved of this romance because we were of different religions. I was Church of England and he was Roman Catholic, the more they protested the more determined I was to see him.

Boy Soldier who went on to become Regimental Sergeant Major

  One day, we were sitting by the lake in a local park, my beau turned to me and told me he loved me and wanted to marry me but also, that day, he had enlisted in the British Army. He wanted to build a career by going through the ranks and hopefully, gain a commission. Then, when the time came we would marry and I would become an army wife. I didn't think  much about marriage then as I was too young, aged 14 and still at school. He asked me if I would wait for him and of course, I said yes, so off he went to training camp which was based in Germany. He came home on leave and I felt very proud of him, he looked so handsome in his uniform; The  only downside was that his lovely blonde curls had been cut off into a regulation short back and sides.

Sadly, as we both matured it seemed that we had little in common and drifted apart. I started a new career in a major city bank, and he married a girl who was also in the army.

He was based in several places but scarily, was in Northern Ireland, at the time of the IRA uprising;

 I found out that he had been badly injured in a booby trap bomb and sadly for him he was pensioned out of the job he loved so much, serving his Queen and country.He did recover quite well from his injuries and went on to having a successful career helping wounded servicemen into rehabilitation.

 I must say that whenever I see a man in a military uniform my heart flutters a little and my mind wanders back to when I was, 'just a teenager in Love'. 

A poem about Love by the America writer

Mary Angelou;  It's called 'Touched by an Angel'.

We, unaccustomed to courage

excites from delight lives coiled in shells of loneliness

until Love leaves its high holy temple

 and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life

Love arrives

 and in its train comes ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pleasure

Yet if we are bold Love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of Love's light
We dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that Love costs all we are
and will ever be
Yet it is only Love
Which sets us free.

My sincere thanks to the   Lovely Denise for devising ABCW thus giving so much pleasure to many and also Roger the Lexicographer for doing what he does, ably assisted by Leslie who Lightens the work load.
Finally the band of Lively helpers who assist with the visits and encourage new contributors to keep on writing on ABCW.
Kind regards to all,
Di,
abcw team.

K for Rudyard Kipling

Last week, 
 I wrote the introduction for ABCW about the Jungle Book stories written by Rudyard KIPLING the English writer and poet,

I thought it only fitting that I should to tell you a  little more about him.

One of his most poignant writings was called ......

RUDYARD KIPLING as a young man in India.

      .... ....IF.......

If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when others doubt you,
But make allowances for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired of 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 imposters 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 winning
Ans risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
- And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word against 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 distance run -
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - 
You'll be a man my son !

Lieutenant John Kipling British Army  Regiment of The Irish Guards.

Ruyard Kipling's beloved son who lost his life in the Battle of Loos Atois In France during World War One; He was just eighteen years of age.

 Kipling was distraught with grief because he introduced his son Jack (John)  to a close friend in the Irish Guards and was accepted into the regiment at Kipling's request.  Jack had already been turned down by the Royal Air Corps and the Royal Navy because he had such poor eye sight and desperately wanted to serve his king and country.

Insignia of the Royal Irish Guards which would be worn on the sleeve.

After his son's death Rudyard KIPLING wrote,

"If any should question why we died, tell them, 

 because our fathers' lied" !

As we complete the penultimate round of abcw, I  hope to write more about RUDYARD KIPLING, his amazing works and life.

My sincere thanks to the KINDLY Denise the founder of   abcw, also to Roger our most KNOWLEDGEABLE Admin. Man. Also to The Pedalogue Leslie who is blessed with the 'KNOWHOW' to support Roger and his team of helpers who KNUCKLEDOWN each week and visit others by  reading and encouraging their 'contributions to ABCW.

Best wishes,

Di,

ABCW team.

I means ' In all Honesty'.

Propositions by Stephen Dunn.

Anyone who begins a sentence with  "In all honesty"........ Is about to tell a lie. Anyone who says "This is how I feel" had better love form more than disclosure.

 Same for anyone who thinks he thinks well because he had a thought.

Rodin.....The Thinker.

If you say "You're ugly to an ugly" to an ugly person-no credit for honesty, which always must be a discovery, an act that qualifies as an achievement. If you persist you're just a cruel bastard, a pig without a mirror.

Somebody who hasn't examined himself  enough.

 A hesitation hints at an attempt to be honest, suggests a difficulty is present.

A good sentence needs a clause or two, interruptions, set off by commas,

 evidence of a slowing down, a rethinking.

Before I asked my wife to marry me, I told her I'd never be fully honest.  "No one she said, had said that to her"

' I was trying to be radically honest', I said, but in fact had another motive.

 A claim without a 'but' in it is,  at best, only half true.

IN ALL HONESTY,  I was asking in advance , to be forgiven.

I really enjoyed this  INTERESTING piece of work and I do hope, You do too!

My sincere thanks to DENISE for creating ABCW and to  ROGER ably assisted by Leslie in the smooth running of this meme. Also many thanks to the team of assistants who help with the visits.

 Best wishes Di,ABCW team.