The Children's Song - A Poem

by Adesinmi Olatoyese

This is a poem by the novelist and poet, Rudyard Kipling.

Enjoy!

Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee
Our love and toil in the years to be;
When we are grown and take our place
As men and women of our race.

Father in Heaven who lovest all,
Oh, help Thy children when they call;
That they may build from age to age
An undefiled heritage.

Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,
With steadfastness and careful truth;
That, in our time, Thy Grace may give
The Truth whereby the Nations live.

Teach us to rule ourselves alway,
Controlled and cleanly night and day;
That we may bring, if need arise,
No maimed or worthless sacrifice.

Teach us to look in all our ends
On Thee for judge, and not our friends;
That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed
By fear or favour of the crowd.

Teach us the strength that cannot seek,
By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;
That, under Thee, we may possess
Man's strength to comfort man's distress.

Teach us delight in simple things,
And mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done,
And Love to all men 'neath the sun!

Land of our Birth, our faith, our pride,
For whose dear sake our fathers died;
O Motherland, we pledge to thee
Head, heart, and hand through the years
to be!

© Rudyard Kipling

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How Did You Find Your Nickname?

by Adesinmi Olatoyese

Because I've not seen mine yet.

Or was it given to you?
Even if so, you probably have given someone else, too.

And, hey, I mean the good ones; not the crazy ones, pleeassseee.

I've been trying hard for years (yes, years) to give myself a befitting nickname, a nickname that depicts some awesomeness, but haven't had any significant success with it. I have never found that one nickname that gets me wowing.

I take this issue seriously, because wherever I go, I hear great nicknames—ones that has some conformance with the bearers, and it gives me some kind of push. You know those nicknames you hear and would be like “wow! that's nice. How did you come by it?”
And when I ask, people's responses center around two options: taken or given.

By taken, I mean giving oneself a nickname. When people look around themselves and pick one they think fits them—something I've not been able to do. It can be in accordance with their personality (more like the persona they desire), or by shortening or acronymizing their name(s).

When I asked someone how he came about his nickname, he said: “because I read a lot and I think I'm brilliant in my own way.” That's personality.
Also, when you hear names like “Scorpion,” “Python” etc. You know what to expect as they border on personality, too.

When Patrick gives himself Pat, or when Romoke Akpos Mai gives herself Ram (lol), that's shortening at play in the first case, and acronymy in the second.

OK now, let's say I want my nickname around being awesome (yes, I wanna be super awesome), should I give myself awesome? That's sour. What about Awe? My Yoruba Language won't allow me; not like it makes sense in English. Some is a no-dare. So that can't work, or perhaps I should choose Writer? impossible!

*Sighs*

Should I shorten my names?
If you are (or speak) Yoruba, you know that's not even near possible.

Alright, let's try given.

By given, I mean those nicknames that people give to other people. It usually surround some event, mostly ones the bearers are not proud of.

Suggested Reading: What to Write About

This kind is undesired, and people don't want to identify by it. You will fight anybody that address you by it dirty, but your friends—those that gave you—are just stubborn.

Other times—and rarely, of course—some of the best nicknames come out of this.

Intermission:

Truth be told, writing this piece has become boring to me, so I'm looking for the nearest exit.

Most times when I get an idea about a topic, they're the greatest on earth and I can't wait to write on them, but by the time I commit some of them to paper, like those undesired nicknames, I sometimes don't want to be attributed to them.

Although, I am reluctant to admit that it is not every idea that is worth writing about, I think this topic is one. But my “writer mind” won't allow me. (:

Let's end it here on that note.
The question, however, remains: how did you come by your nickname?
PS: Those of you that have more than one awesome nicknames, I envy you.

Share your thoughts in the comments.

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