If by Rudyard Kipling

 

Whenever you're going through a reading slump, turn to poetry. But slump or not, I read poetry as often as I remember too. This time, it was Rudyard Kipling's timeless and uplifting poem If (1910), where he tells his son—and us—how to live a good life. He reminds us to stay calm when things go well and when they go badly; to be patient, honest and humble; and to never give up even when we fail. The poem teaches us to keep trying, learn from mistakes, and always do the right thing. If we live this way, we can grow wise and strong.

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 by 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 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!

The poem sounds even better when Sir Michael Caine recites it in this video,  courtesy of sigunat on YouTube.

© Pocketful of Happiness