Wednesday, January 25, 2012
"If"
Poems have never been my kind of thing. It's kind of interesting how I even came about this particular one: it must have been ten years ago or so when I was learning how to touch-type and this was one of the text for the "tests".
It's stuck with me ever since. The "Triumph and Disaster" verse is probably the most popular and the only one I've seen quoted in the general media (which is also what prompted this rare post) but my favorite has to be "If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;" It's probably my go-to "quote" when asked for one somewhere, but it has been some time since it last came into my thoughts. It's still as impactful every read, and this period of time is a good one to revisit it. It's more for myself than for anyone out there (as with almost all posts), but I present, the patiently typed out
"If" by Rudyard Kipling
---
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance 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 in 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 impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap by fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em 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!
It's stuck with me ever since. The "Triumph and Disaster" verse is probably the most popular and the only one I've seen quoted in the general media (which is also what prompted this rare post) but my favorite has to be "If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;" It's probably my go-to "quote" when asked for one somewhere, but it has been some time since it last came into my thoughts. It's still as impactful every read, and this period of time is a good one to revisit it. It's more for myself than for anyone out there (as with almost all posts), but I present, the patiently typed out
"If" by Rudyard Kipling
---
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance 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 in 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 impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap by fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em 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!
