To observe National Poetry Month, I”ve printed out a poem and am keeping it close at hand for an occasion to read it publicly.
For the second time, I”ve chosen “If” by Rudyard Kipling.
National Poetry Month was inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets (www.poets.org). One of its featured observances during the month of April is “Poem in Your Pocket Day,” which is Thursday, April 30 this year.
“The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with coworkers, family and friends on April 30, 2009.”
Kipling”s poem “If” has special significance for me because it came into my life by chance, at precisely a time when I needed to hear its message.
One of the hazards of my occupation is when a letter to the editor professes a view that someone disagrees with, sometimes that person trashes the newspaper and the people working for it, as if we somehow endorsed that opinion. Even though very few opinions would make it into the newspaper if there was any prerequisite that someone on staff had to agree with it, people sometimes still hold this view. And sometimes, even though we tell ourselves that we have done nothing wrong, it still hurts to be unfairly criticized.
During one such time I happened to be reading Helen Fielding”s novel “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.” In one scene, Bridget Jones is at a party where her father and another man get drunk and begin reciting Rudyard Kipling”s “If.” She and her boyfriend have recently broke up and he slips her a note at the party.
Bridget Jones is later arrested overseas on suspicion of smuggling drugs and discovers in prison that she still has the note that was given to her by Mark Darcy. Thinking it a note of love or of reconcilliation, she takes it out of her pocket — only to discover she somehow possesses the text of Kipling”s poem:
“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.”
The poem offers Bridget Jones a glimmer of reassurance during this frightening experience of being locked in prison for an indefinite time. And as I read its opening lines, it offered me reassurance that I had nothing to feel sorry or ashamed for.
To honor this poem and the message it gave to me during a time that I needed it, I carried it with me and read it aloud during suitable opportunities.
I presented the poem during public input at a local school board meeting and also read it as a toast before my local Toastmasters group. This year, our weekly Toastmasters meeting coincides with “Poem in Your Pocket Day,” so I may have an opportunity to read the poem yet again.
The rest of the poem is worthwhile reading that continually speaks to me:
“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 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!”
I hope that you will take the opportunity during National Poetry Month to experience fine poetry and maybe find a poem that speaks to you the way that “If” spoke to me. For information about activities and observances for National Poetry Month, visit www.poets.org.
Cynthia is the Record-Bee focus page editor and the Clear Lake Observer-American editor. She can be reached at 263-5636 Ext. 28
