"If" - Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling's inspirational poem - "If"

Here's probably my most inspirational poem, written by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).

'If' is inspirational, motivational, and offers a set of rules for 'grown-up' livingin the eyes of a child. It contains mottos and maxims for life and is an inspiration for personal integrity, the right behaviour and self-development.

The beauty and elegance of "If" contrasts starkly with Rudyard Kipling's tragic and unhappy life.

Just like many of the people we're trying to reach on this site, Kipling was starved of love and attention and sent away by his parents; beaten and abused by his foster mother; and a failure at a public school which sought to develop qualities that were completely alien to Kipling. In later life the deaths of two of his children also affected Kipling deeply.

Kipling's words seem to parallel my feelings throughout my childhood. It would seem that he had a life of pain which he rose above and met his challenges head on. These inspirational words are for all growing children, yet also for changes in adult life, or as a lesson for other people's children. You'll have to excuse the lack of political correctness. It didn't exist in his day. It was a man's world then.

Glenn.

"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 1865-1936