I'm aware the poem "If" has been parodied by some and others focus on the distortions of Rudyard Kipling and that's okay. All I can say is that his poem, written for his son, touches my heart deeply every time I read it, and I have read it many times when experiencing major challenges and losses in my life, and it inspired me to keep going no matter what. These are challenging times. I am feeling my own fear and the fear of others, so I offer the recitation of "If" by Sir Michael Caine in the event it inspires others to take heart and pluck up their courage. The full poem is included below the link to the video. I read the poem as beyond gender. The poem reflects Victorian stoicism which I have been well steeped in although in another decade. Thankfully, I have learned to express my losses when it feels right to do so and to stay silent when that feels right.

Much Love,

C.

https://youtu.be/JWvcwVWCcnY

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 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!"