Often I sit to write, sure my mind, heart, and fingers will combine to produce something new, or if not new, at least insightful, reflective, and worthy of reading. Sometimes what I discover is that others have already done it, said what I might – with perfection. Today is such a day.
Three works come to mind, as spring turns, Memorial Day behind us, July 4th rising before us, and a kind of turning of seasons – spring to summer – meeting us with each warmer dawn.
The three may seem unlikely, but to me they are perfect. The first is Jefferson’s gathering of our Founders’ sentiments, baking into a cake from the raw ingredients of faith, freedom, hope, courage, longed-for equality, and dreams – with no hesitation, our “Declaration.”
To me, the second paragraph of that document, harkening to the Magna Carta (1215) and John Locke’s famous Second Treatise – an ode to the idea that men can, after all, govern themselves, do not need a king or tyrannical government – is the guts of it.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …” Exactly right, as true now as then.
The second perfect collection of words, magically transformed into a poem of hope – not an ode or declaration, just a poem – is “Pippa’s Song,” by Robert Browning. As short as Jefferson’s second paragraph in the Declaration, it is also about hope, every heart’s hope for spring.
“The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven,
All’s right with the world!”
Of course, we know that all is not right with the world, but there are those moments – those mornings, graduations, conclusions of long efforts, outcomes that lighten the heart and remind us that each dawn is filled with magic. Browning summed up, in my view, why we must forever be optimists.
Finally, there is Rudyard Kipling, whose genius sometimes sweeps me, in a short verse, wisdom snatched from the ether, a bit of silver of uncatchable moonlight – caught. His poem “If” is – to me – another example of thoughts perfectly captured.
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 impostors 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 winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about 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 of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!”
Sometimes, the perfect has already been created, circle as round as it can be, chord or phrase or musical piece as moving as the human mind, heart, and fingers can make it, equation balances, chalice, boots or coin polished to perfection, no chance for correction. In such moments, humility must come before a reopened door. Best to let well enough alone, the artist be, do what we ought, not what we should not. Today is such a day.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
RBC, thanks for another wonderful piece for the weekend. A warmer dawn for each new day as summer finally approaches. I know the in OH, it has been the coolest and wettest May ever, many farmers are still trying to get crops planted and some that planted too early are having to replant their fields. The nation has a government that is in turmoil as both sides duke it out and the population suffers the effects of this petty bickering. No politician seems to know or want to adhere to the laws of the Constitution and the Amendments. Turmoil, more turmoil.
Have a good weekend.
Your articles are reflective and bring the sense of sanity and normalcy , always mentioning the writings and names of those who could talk and write, what a contrast to chaos and incoherency that is around us . What character those men who made it possible for us to live the way we do had .Magna Charta in 1215,Congress should be forced to read it aloud , see if it frightens them as much as a Constitution.
Good quotes, Robert. As I sit on my back porch this warm spring day and look out over my acres of woods, I think that nothing that goes on in the world can bring me down. It’s easy to be optimistic and know that events unfold the way they’re supposed to.
Thanks for sharing this article.
Once again, you are on the money! I just wrapped a wall-hanging of “IF” for my grandson’s graduation as valedictorian of his Old Town High School class. The words echo and give deep perspective and I hope they guide him as he goes forward to the next steps in his life. He is also getting a copy of your “Cherish America.” Thank you so much for all of it!