If only he wasn't jingoist

Asked about Rudyard Kipling, Eric Blair (alias George Orwell) said sth to the effect that I like his aesthetics and hate his politics. very well said. racist and patronising as he certainly is, his writings are just what the doctor ordered.
Witness the chef d'oeuvre below:


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!

correction: if only he WERE'NT

WOW, I've never ever read something so....... wow as this. AMAZING and so true!! This part I'm gonna use it in Soledad, it's just what I'm having in mind !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aspire, you're the BEST!!!


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;


But I just don't agree with the end

you'll be a Man, my son! OR aWOMAN !!!!!

Well Sassy, I think he has a version for staunch feminists among his readers, which ends : You 'll be a WOMAN my DAUGHTER!!

I'm afraid you'll end up like that zealous woman who took an article and turned all the "he" s into "she" s, and when she met the word "HISTORY" she changed it into "HERTORY"

We like women and can't bear life without them

This poem was written: 1899
first published: 1910
Voted in 1995: the UK's favourite poem by the BBC
Inspired by Leander Starr Jameson's failed raid (Jameson Raid) against the Boers in South Africa (1895)
Translated into French: Jules Castier (1949)

Si tu peux rester calme alors que, sur ta route,
Un chacun perd la tête, et met le blâme en toi;
Si tu gardes confiance alors que chacun doute,
Mais sans leur en vouloir de leur manque de foi;
Si l'attente, pour toi, ne cause trop grand-peine:
Si, entendant mentir, toi-même tu ne mens,
Ou si, étant haï, tu ignores la haine,
Sans avoir l'air trop bon, ni parler trop sagement;

Si tu rêves, - sans faire des rêves ton pilastre;
Si tu penses, - sans faire de penser toute leçon;
Si tu sais rencontrer Triomphe ou bien Désastre,
Et traiter ces trompeurs de la même façon;
Si tu peux supporter tes vérités bien nettes
Tordues par les coquins pour mieux duper les sots,
Ou voir tout ce qui fut ton but brisé en miettes,
Et te baisser, pour prendre et trier les morceaux;

Si tu peux faire un tas de tous tes gains suprêmes
Et le risquer à pile ou face, - en un seul coup -
Et perdre - et repartir comme à tes débuts mêmes,
Sans murmurer un mot de ta perte au va-tout;
Si tu forces ton coeur, tes nerfs, et ton jarret
A servir à tes fins malgré leur abandon,
Et que tu tiennes bon quand tout vient à l'arrêt,
Hormis la Volonté qui ordonne : << Tiens bon ! >>

Si tu vas dans la foule sans orgueil à tout rompre,
Ou frayes avec les rois sans te croire un héros;
Si l'ami ni l'ennemi ne peuvent te corrompre;
Si tout homme, pour toi, compte, mais nul par trop;
Si tu sais bien remplir chaque minute implacable
De soixante secondes de chemins accomplis,
A toi sera la Terre et son bien délectable,
Et, - bien mieux - tu seras un Homme, mon fils.

Rudyard Kipling

Anybody knows an Arabic translation??