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.