My
thanks to StarSeer for this one.
You'll be a Man ...
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 again 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!