On May 15th 2013 I posted a blog post entitled An exceedingly good poet.
Today is August 16th 2013, it has taken me since then if not longer to add an addition to the famous poet Rudyard Kipling’s words in his poem If , that would fit but also ring true to the rest of the poem to illicit the faithfulness, loyalty staminer and honour of the content of the poem, yet make it apply in this century, as we can sometimes lose sight of these qualities. I have spent the last 32 years trying to instill these values into my charges, one day, as most days, it will ring true!
Pay special attention to the end of the poem if you are already familiar with it, I feel it will answer Bastet’s querie of May 15th.
And I dedicate this poem to all our Grandchildren, and hope they come, as we have, to live by it.
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 on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe 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!
Addition ©G.W.W.Aug.2013
-And then again, if you’re a woman,
Then you’re day is not yet done!
(For all my girls!, & all of my grandchildren of whatever gender & Bastet )
Today is August 16th 2013, it has taken me since then, if not longer to add an addition to the famous poet Rudyard Kipling’s words in his poem If , that would fit but also ring true to the rest of the poem to illicit the faithfulness, loyalty staminar and honour of the content of the poem, yet make it apply in this century, as we can sometimes lose sight of these qualities. I have spent the last 32 years trying to instill these values into my charges, one day, as most days, it will ring true!
Pay special attention to the end of the poem if you are already familiar with it, I feel it will answer Bastet’s querie of May 15th.
And I dedicate this poem to all our Grandchildren, and hope they come, as we have, to live by it.
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