Traditional poetry is not all love, daffodils, and nightingales. It can on rare occasions offer solid practical advice, as in Rudyard Kipling’s “If–”
These four lines especially resonate with me:
“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…”
I came across this reading by Michael Caine. He delivers the poem without hamming it up, letting the words speak for themselves. Well done sir.
Man Verses Poetry 