<b>IF</b> (Kipling)

Kipling ^ | ageless | Rudyard Kipling

[dynachrome]

[IF]

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 all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath 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!

--Rudyard Kipling

[dynachrome]

Do you have a roof over your head?

Yes

Do you have food on the table?

Yes

Is anyone shooting at you?

No

--------------------------------------------------------

Don't panic

[bamagirl1944]

Love it! This was always one of my favorites.

[cdga5for4]

The Kipling “poem” one of Coach Bob Knight’s favorites.

[null and void]

He: Do you like Kipling?

She: I Don’t know, I’ve never kipled...

[Constitution Day]

Thank you for posting this!

See tagline...

[mojito]

Thanks for the reminder, in these times, of what real character is all about.

[griffin]

I don’t care for poetry......

But I like this. Thanks.

[RedStateRocker]

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,”

Then you're nuts.
Some of us hate risking anything on a turn of the cards or market, and resent bailing out the adrenaline junkies who do.
But then I'm an insurance geek, the whole focus of my studies and career is to prevent loss and/or prevent the severity of same.
I laugh at people who lose money gambling, be it at a casino or in anything more risky than an annuity:-)

Semi tongue in cheek:-) Bitter at being expected to bail out those who expected something for nothing

[DustyMoment]

Kipling is one of the all-time best writers around. His works are timeless and, if anything, he should still be taught in school.

Mt dad introduced me to the works of Rudyard Kipling and I can’t thank him enough for it!!

[Tijeras_Slim]

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of “Spiritus Mundi”
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! RUN IN CIRCLES!

[HonorInPa]

My Grandfather gave me this poem on my 18th birthday - over 33 years ago - as words to live by. He's been gone for many years but your post reminds me of how much I miss him, and sadly how far we've strayed from his type of values.

Thank you!

[Constitution Day]

To summarize, I think what Mr. Yeats was trying to say was...

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[grb]

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:

This part reminds me of GWB and the way he reacts to being beaten on every day.