If you can keep your heading when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all passengers doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait for the tide yet not be tired of waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being rated, don’t give way to rating,
And don’t sail less good, nor talk too wise:

If you can sail the stream – not make streaming your master;
If you can focus on your course – not let poor sailing be your aim;
If you can deal with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the orders that you’ve spoken
Twisted by rivals to make a ship for fools,
Or watch the career you gave your life to, broken,
And sail and build it up again with well-worn tools:

If you can guide your ship to global winnings
And never risk it on a turn of pitch-and-toss,
And encounter fog, then set sail from your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can steel your soul and nerve and sinew
To serve your passengers long after they have gone,
And hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them, ‘We’re sailing on!’

If you can mingle with crowds and keep your virtue.
Or dine with Kings – not lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all crew count on you, but none too much;
If you can fill an unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of cruising done,
Yours are the seas and everything in them,
And – what is more – you’ll be a Captain, my son!

James Leavey

Posted in Cruising, Humour