2003-07-16 - 2:03 a.m.

So before school ended, my AP English teacher gave each of her students a copy of "If" by Rudyard Kipling. She read it aloud to all of us, Students cried, I zoned out and didn't actually read the poem till later in class, You get the idea. Anyway, the poem is really quite cool. I'm not sure if any of you guys have read the poem or not before. Either way, I'm typing it up on here. Partly because of boredom and really wanting to make an entry but having nothing to talk about, partly because it's a kick-ass poem and I'm recording it on here in case I lose the paper it's printed on, and partly because.. Errr.. I forgot the third reason. *Ponders* Oh, well.. Can't be that important, I suppose. Onto the poem!

"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 beat 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!

past - future