LET US REPEAT

 

                LET US REPEAT

            Some poems, speeches, and religious texts never become old or outdated. Their contents remain eternal. So they deserve to be repeated in current times for guidance and inspiration.  Here are three of them:

1.     A song from the book titled Gitanjali (Song Offerings) written by India’s poet and author  Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)  

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action -----

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

                                                ------

2.     A sonnet on Mercy by the English poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) contained in his play Merchant of Venice.

 

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,

Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

‘Tis is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway,

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings.

It is an attribute to God himself.

An earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice.

                                                -----

3.     The Ten Commandments – a set of ten Biblical laws given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Found in the Old Testament , they guide people on how to love God and how to treat other human beings.

 

Their details are:

*Put God first and do not worship false idols.

*Do not make or bow down to carved images.

*Treat the name of God with respect.

*Rest and honour God on the holy day of rest.

*Show respect to your father and mother.

*Do not kill other people.

*Do not commit adultery. Be faithful in your marriage.

*Do not steal.

*Do not give false testimony against your neighbour.

 *Do not be greedy for your neighbour’s house, wife, or possessions,

 

            The  above-mentioned commandments  appear in the Bible text (Exodus 20).

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G.R.Kanwal

20 August 2026