Wednesday, March 4, 2015

I is for..."IF..."




"IF..." a poem by Rudyard Kipling, sung by Roger Whittaker.

Rudyard Kipling, a Victorian, British poet, wrote a poem which posed a number of possibilities, quite a few stanzas long . I have only posted three. The last line of the  poem is (if you can do all these things) - "then you'll be a man my son".

This is the code of values under which I was raised.  Sad to say, many of these propositions have gone by the board today.   I believe we are the worse off for that.

Here is the poem:

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 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.

*******

And if you're not too much into poetry,  here's a couple of photos of our vividly colored ICE PLANT that is blooming profusely all over Carlsbad right now.  These two patches are from our yard.



This is my entry for ABC WEDNESDAY, the letter 'I'.  This project was started by Mrs. Nesbitt and continued by Roger Owen Green and his team.  To see other entries, please click HERE.

8 comments:

Reader Wil said...

This is also the poem I got from my father when I was a teenager.
As a matter of fact I used it for the introduction van "I".
It'ss beautiful, isn't it?!
I wish you a great week!
Wil, ABCW

Anonymous said...

My father was a big fan of Roger Whittaker.
Unfortunately my father is deceased. He was buried and this song was his favorite: I Don`t Believe in if Anymore. Nice to hear as Roger Whittaker again, thank you :)

Black Jack's Carol said...

Such a wise poem and a perfect reminder for man or woman :) Thank you, Chris! I'm listening to the video as I write. As for the ice plant, it is truly magnificent! The vivid colours are brightening my day as well.. what a wonderful post!

kaybee said...

I have never heard the poem or the song, but it is certainly filled with wisdom! Love the ice plants...such beautiful colours. We only have the ice at the moment...not the plants 😉

Anita (Rosy) said...

He has a nice voice and I also never heard of this poem before, tho I enjoy it very much.

Your Ice plants are so very colorful.

It has been a long time since I been to your blog ever since I myself had stop blogging after my mother had passed away...well guess what I a back to blogging again. :)

http://hey-fritzy.blogspot.com

Roger Owen Green said...

You and Wil must have great minds. Good choice with ROGER Whitaker.
ROG, ABCW

claude said...

Unfortunatly the google translating does not allow me to understand very the sense of this poem.
You flowers are really beautiful.
In France, we say :
"With many "IF" we shall able be to put Paris in a bottle".

Trubes said...

If...such a wonderfully poignant poem, amongst my favourites.
I believe I am related to Rudyard Kipling, he was my Great Granma's second cousin.
IF only I could find out more about the historical link but I can't, just to say, that my Uncle Jack looked very like him.... he died in WW2.

Best wishes,
Di.
ABCW team.