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...
...And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
...Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it..."
These words are a passage from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If". It was part of my daily rehab listening exercise from Cochlear today. I plugged my personal audio cable into my processor this morning and connected the cord to my phone as I do nearly every day. I dialed the number and listened intently to the "animal list #17", then pressed the continue button for today's passage. I expected the routine reading of common fairy tales, as I have listened to in the past. But today -- today there was a poem. A poem I've read many times before. A poem beautiful in thought and intent. A poem of advice from a wise father to his son. A poem of virtue and character. A poem of perseverance. Profound. Poignant. Purposeful. A poem of hope.
I understood every word. It made me cry.
And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says...
"Hold on!"
It is a perfect expression of where I am. I'm holding on. Holding on to the promise that this cochlear implant journey will be everything I have hoped it would be.
Today, I heard the robin sing.
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