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Poem for the week #1
Category: Non-fictionI've moaned more than once about people writing poetry and calling themselves poets, but having never read the work of anyone widely accepted as a Poet.
So i shall be posting a poem on here every week.
And praying for osmosis.
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 imposters 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 wornout 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 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 also wrote The Jungle Book...random fact for you if you wondered who he was.
By monkeyboy2416
Comments: 9
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Comment by darksideofme: 2009-10-31
Kipling is a hackComment by niallhybris: 2009-10-31
excellent poem. never read it before... or even heard of the dude. he knows how to throw down on the poetry front thoughComment by grunty: 2009-10-30
"If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;"
I love those lines.
This was one of the first, if not the first poem on my reading list that a good friend complied for me.
Comment by PrettyOdd: 2009-10-30
I've always thought that it's nice to read poetry on a poetry site.
It's a sad day when you have to explain who Kipling is, though.
Comment by SilentWords: 2009-10-30
You are just full of good ideas arn't you?
Been a long time sense I read this..
And it was a lovely reunion
Comment by Haylo: 2009-10-30
I did read this poem right here, but i have already read it and also put it into my poetry book i made for school. It is really a very nice poem. Rudyard Kipling is a great poem.Comment by JamesR: 2009-10-30
Oh yyeeaahhh. I read this ages ago. Great poem. Though, I have never likeD the first three lines all ending in 'you'...I get what he's trying to achieve...but I still don't like it. 
Comment by Shadow17: 2009-11-16
Great idea! I love reading these.
This poem is strangely scary to me, but that must be because in a way it's true.
he's an awesome writer.. makes you think..