Perhaps you’ve hit the high street this week but you’re still looking for a special gift for a son, dad or grandad. We all have that one person who’s a little tricky to buy for… I know I do!
Not On The High Street is a brilliant place to find unique Christmas gifts for everyone – and their selection for men is growing every year. Kipling’s classic poem ‘If’ is one of our favourites, and makes a perfect gift for the man in your life.
The words are inspiring and motivational – they teach courtesy, humility and strength. This is the famous poem which ends with the words ‘You’ll be a man, my son!’ – a phrase I must have written a hundred times in my days as a calligrapher!
This decorative calligraphy poem is printed from a handwritten calligraphy original. It’s hand finished with a modern decorative letter in 22 carat gold leaf.
Now you can buy this poem at a very reduced price in our Not On The High Street shop. The usual price is £85, but for this weekend ONLY it’s reduced by a whopping 30%, bringing the price you’ll pay down to just £59.50!
Offer available until Monday 26th November
The full wording of the poem is –
If
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, my son!
Source – Wikisource
If ‘If’ isn’t for you, you might like our modern calligraphy family tree – now with a special Christmas family tree option! Or if you’d like to have a go at modern calligraphy yourself, our personalised modern calligraphy kit is a lovely treat and contains everything you need to get started on your lettering adventures!
