Rudyard Kipling. 153 years of his birth. Two poems

Ended 1865 when he came to the world Joseph Rudyard Kipling en Bombay (India), one of those writers who make history in literature with capital letters. I spoke did nothing in this article of the film adaptations of his best-known book, The book of the jungle. Today, to celebrate a new anniversary of his birth (it's already 153 years), I remember in his poetic side with a couple of his poems: the well-known Si y Do not give up, in addition to some verses from his Epitaphs of war. It was Nobel Prize of Literature in 1907.

Kipling, perhaps best known for his important prose literary work, was nevertheless also considered the national poem of Great Britain. He wrote three books of poems: The seven seas, Ballads of the barracks y The five nations. His most universal poem, Si, was included in the collection of poems Fairies and bounties, from 1911. I also add some verses included in his Epitaphs of war, inspired by the First World War where his son John died.

Si

If you can keep your head when everything around you
lose yours and for that they blame you,
if you can trust yourself when everyone doubts you,
but you also admit their doubts;
if you can wait without getting tired in waiting,
or be lied to, don't pay with lies,
or be hated, do not give place to hatred,
and -yet- don't look too good, or too wise.

If you can dream - and not make dreams your teacher,
if you can think - and not make ideas your goal,
if you can meet Triumph and Disaster
and treat the two fakers in the same way;
if you can admit the truth that you said
fooled by rascals who cheat for fools.
Or look at the things that you have put in your life, broken,
and get down and rebuild them with old tools.

If you can corner all your victories
and risk them for a stroke of luck,
and lose, and start over from the beginning
and never say anything about what you've lost;
if you can strain your heart and nerves and tendons
to play your turn long after they have been spent.
And so resist when you have nothing left
except the Will that tells you: "Resist."

If you can speak to crowds and maintain your virtue,
or walk with kings and not lose common sense,
if enemies and friends can't hurt you,
If they all count on you, but none too much;
if you can fill the unforgettable minute
with the sixty seconds that go through it.
Yours is the Earth and everything that lives in it,
and - what is more -, you will be Man, son.

Do not give up

When things go wrong as they sometimes do,
when I offer your way only hills to climb,
when you have little to have but a lot to pay,
and you need to smile even having to cry,
when the pain overwhelms you and you can no longer suffer,
Rest perhaps you must but never give up.

Behind the shadows of doubt
already silver and dark,
triumph may well emerge,
not the failure you feared,
and it is not possible for your ignorance to imagine how close,
may be the good that you long for and that you judge so far away, fight,
Well, no matter how hard you have to suffer in the struggle.

When everything is worse, more must insist!
If destiny knocks you down in the fight,
if everything on your way is uphill,
if your smile is a satisfied craving,
if there is excessive labor and vile harvest,
if your flow is opposed by dikes,
Give yourself a truce, but don't give up!
«Because in this life nothing is final,
take into account that: everything passes, everything arrives and everything returns ».

Epitaphs of war

The obedient

Every day, even if no ears listen,
my prayers arose.
Every day, though no fire descended,
I made the sacrifice.
Although the darkness did not fade in me,
although he did not face lesser forces,
Although the Gods did not grant any gift, in spite of everything,
In spite of everything, I served the Gods.

The favor

Death from the beginning favored me, knowing well that I could not hold
wait for her day after day. Left my superiors and came
whistling through the fields, and, after making sure,
"Your line is coming to an end," he said, "but I have at least saved his
Name".


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  1.   JESUS ​​MANUEL MENDOZA LOZANO said

    EXCELLENT SHARING. THANK YOU, I LIKE THESE SUBLIME WRITINGS.