Graduate high school inspirational poem for teens. For a child or grandchild about to graduate high school, consider sharing If, by Rudyard Kipling. If is a popular inspirational poem shared often with teens as they graduate high school. But why wait until your child is to graduate high school?

I, personally, believe it is an important message for teens entering high school, where peer pressure is at its extreme these days. I might even go so far as suggesting If is shared at the beginning of every high school year. Hopefully, the true message becomes more meaningful as the years pass, and as they are about to graduate high school, they have that “ah ha!” moment. They tell you they know exactly what you’ve meant these past five years.

Graduate High School with Inspirational Poem, If 

If, was first published in the “Brother Square-Toes” chapter of Rewards and Fairies, a 1910 collection of verse and short stories.  The voice of the poem is in a paternal tone, giving advice that leads to self-confidence, humility, not bending to the pressures of others, letting disappointments keep you from moving forward, and many more important personal life skills that are as important today as they were in the late 1890’s.

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 (Woman), my son (daughter)!

More about Rudyard Kipling 

This poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, can be found on an original graduation card at Zazzle.