Thursday 1 March 2012

If


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 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 them 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 is in it,
And which is more you’ll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling


10 Fertilize my soul:

Felisol said...

Dear Amrita,
Kipling's IF used to be one of my favorites. I once knew it by heart, but not anymore. Seems like we have met and loved many of the same authors throughout the years.
Kindred spirits.
My best and warmest wishes for you from Felisol

Paresh Palicha said...

Beautiful :)

David C Brown said...

Quite a test!

I put my Christian "If" on at http://dcbverse.blogspot.com/2010/11/if.html

What do you think?

Paresh Palicha said...

Didi, Didi, Didi, your post did ring a bell in my head that I've heard this poem before, here it is where I'd heard it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEeLh5ItQcY

Amrita said...

I appreciate all your comments friends.


Dear Felisol, Rudyard Kipling lived in Allahabad, my city and taught at the University i think, hisw house is a heritage monument.

Amrita said...

Dear Paresh you mut have read it I am sure

Amrita said...

Dear Paresh you mut have read it I am sure

Amrita said...

Dear David the Christian version of If is beautiful and has some solid truths in it. Thanks for sharing

Nadwrażliwiec said...

Building and wise poem. I loved Kipling's books when I was a child - I very liked "The Jungle Book".

Mel Avila Alarilla said...

That poem by Rudyard Kipling has been a source of strength and inspirations for countless people for so long a time now. Thanks for posting it. God bless you always.