If (Daca) by Rudyard Kipling

O poezie a unui scriitor englez… a fost cunoscut mai mult datorita lui Mowgli – personajul din Cartile Junglei, si mai putin datorita poeziilor…. oricum “If” este extrem de cunoscuta si a fost tradusa in toate limbile pamantului… ma rog nu stiu daca si in africana negrilor bantu dar in limbile europene si asiatice cu siguranta.
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De poti sa nu-ti pierzi capul, cand toti in jurul tau
Si l-au pierdut pe-al lor, gasindu-ti tie vina;
De poti atunci cand toti te cred nedemn si rau
Sa nu-ti pierzi nici o clipa increderea intine;

De poti s-astepti oricat, fara sa-ti pierzi rabdarea
De rabzi sa fii mintit fara ca tu sa minti,
Sau cand, hulit de oameni, tu nu cu razbunarea
Sa urci a le raspunde, dar nici cu rigaminti;

De poti visa, dar fara sa te robesti visarii,
De poti gandi, dar fara sa-ti facu din asta un tel;
De poti sa nu cazi prada nicicand disperarii,
Succesul si dezastrul primindu-le la fel…
De rabzi s-auzi cuvantul rostit candva de tine

Rastalmacit de oameni, ciuntit si prefacut
De poti sa-ti vezi idealul distrus si din ruine
Sa-l recladesti cu-ardoarea fierbinte din trecut!
De poti risca pe-o carte intreaga ta avere

Si tot ce-ai strans o viata sa pierzi intr-un minut;
Si-atunci fara a scoate o vorba de durere
Sa-ncepi agoniseala cu calm de la-nceput;
Si daca corpul tau uscat si obosit

Il vei putea fortasa-ti mai slujeasca inca,
Numai cu strasnicia vointei tale si-astfel
Sa steie peste vreme asa cum sta o stanca;
De poti vorbi multimii fara sa minti si daca

Te poti plimba cu regii fara a te-ngamfa,
De nici amicii, nici dusmanii nu pot vreaun rau sa-ti faca
Pentru ca doar dreptatea e calauza ta;
Si daca poti sa umpli minuta trecatoare

Sa nu pierzi nici o fila din al vietii tom
Al tau va fi pamantul cu bunurile toate
Si ceea ce-i mai mult chiar,
sa stii sa fii UN OM.

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pps: iata si varianta in engleza:

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 imposters 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 wornout 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 breath 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!