If — an answer

based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling

If I have kept my head when all around me
           Were losing theirs and blaming it on fate
If I trusted myself when all men doubted me
           And even when doubted I just the same
If once I waited, and wasn't tired by waiting
           Or being lied about, didn't deal in lies
Or being hated, didn't give way to hate
           And yet didn't look too good, nor talked too wise

If I have dreamed — and not made dreams my master;
           Or walked the earth — and not made it my heart's content;
If I met glorious Triumph with gallantry
           And cold Disaster with head unbend
If I even beared to hear the truth I've spoken
           Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
T'was because I once was told
           that right is Right, and good is Good

If even when doing foul deeds
           I have once repented and turned back
Or when vice was easy, and none could see me
           I chose — if once — the narrow path
If once my heart and nerve and sinew
           Served my turn long after they were gone
T'was because of the voice I heard once
           The voice who willed me saying: 'Hold on!'

If I walked with crowds and kept my virtue
           Or walked with Kings — without pride or vainful glee
If neither friends nor foes could dissuade me
           That sails only he who dares the sea
If ever I filled the unforgiving minute
           With sixty seconds worth of distance run
You are the reason, and this Earth you have built me
           And — which is more — made a Man of your son.