I found this in the dusty archives of my computer, and I haven't even re-read it yet, so don't blame me if it's... imperfect. Blame my 20-year-old self. :) I wrote it for a women's studies conference as a revision of Kipling's "If"
“If” Revisited
If you can bend, disallowing the world to break you,
And feel unnamable hurt but let it not contain you,
If you can own your body though gazes hit you
But seek pleasure within their wanting too,
If you can love but into it not wholly dissolve,
Or being lonely, feel your ancestors surround,
Or being slighted, balance forgiveness with resolve,
And yet not on the island of virtue run aground:
If you can rage -- and not make hate your language,
If you can grow -- and not desert your past,
If you can set aside any long-held grudge,
And make one sweet moment the whole day last,
If you can bear the fiercest loves all alone
Not waiting for Death to your truth impart,
Or watch the babies you gave your life to, grown,
And follow them on with a worn-out heart:
If you can make no enemies of near-friends
Though their disparate ways be wholly strange
And love the whole of life no matter the ends,
And never the free truth for lies exchange;
If you can suffer ignorance and edify it,
And allow every sprout of life to grow,
Weeding the poisonous with reverent quiet,
But not razing the whole garden fallow.
If you can lead the race o’er ground you’ve won
And uncover in your tender sisters buried worth
Though too many men call each child "son;"
If gentle spirits find your heart near the earth,
If you can accept all gifts but none prefer,
And remember in distress to seek salt water,
You are the Earth and everyone within her,
And -- always -- you’ll be a Woman, my daughter!
