PROBASHI- A Cultural News Magazine Volume 2 Issue 2 | Page 56

Probashi-Poetry Section

Poem You Should Know

‘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 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 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!

PROBASHi is starting a new regular column on POEM
YOU SHOULD KNOW. We intend to bring poems
which have endured the test of time and have
transcended national borders and have truly
become part of World Literature. We will seek the
advice of experts and also invite suggestions from
our readers. It will be our endeavour to bring such
poems from across languages.
The first poem in this series is IF by Rudyard Kipling.
A framed copy of the poem is affixed to the wall at
the study desk in the cabins of the officer cadets at
the National Defence Academy, at Pune. In Britain,
the third and fourth lines of the second stanza of the
poem: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster /
and treat those two impostors just the same” are
written on the wall of the players’ entrance to
the Centre Court at the All England Lawn Tennis and
Croquet Club, where the Wimbledon Tennis
Championships are held. The well-known Indian
historian and writer Khushwant Singh claims that
Kipling's IF is "the essence of the message of The
Gita in English."
Written in 1896 th