If you can swing a level cue, and duly
   Achieve the perfect contact, full or fine;

If you can hit a ball, and send it truly
   To show no deviation from a line;

If you can recognise the "half-ball angle,"
   And take a full advantage of the same;

It's odds you'll rarely get into a tangle,
   And—what is more—you'll play the better game:

If, when you find the balls are running badly,
   And all your shots are woefully askew,

You do not rail at Fate, or murmur sadly,
   But start right in to build your house anew;

If you can peg away, and be contented
   With a slow and painful progress day by day;

If you can brook advice—so oft resented—
   And take it, when you know that it's O.K.;

If you can put on" side "and" screw "when needed,
   And know—which many don't—when they are riot;

If with" fancy "strokes at times you have succeeded,
   You don't depend on chance for every shot:

If you can look ahead, and so are able
   To play each stroke that others may ensue,

Instead of simply blazing round the table,
   And trusting to your luck to see you through:

If you can play your game, with pulse unhurried,
   No matter how the tide of battle swings;

If you can always carry on, unflurried,
   In what may seem a hopeless state of things;

If you can win—and yet to learn continue;
   If you can lose—and gain by losing much—

You have the makings of a player in you,
   And yours it is to fill the bill as such!