만약에(IF), 키플링의 아들을 위한 시

<정글북>을 쓴 영국 작가

조지프 러디어드 키플링(1865~1936)이

12살이 된 아들을 위하여

아버지로서 바람을 적은

‘만약 (If)’이라는 시입니다.

 

 

만약에

 

 

만일 네가 모든 걸 잃었고 모두가 너를 비난할 때

너 자신이 머리를 똑바로 쳐들 수 있다면,

만일 모든 사람이 너를 의심할 때

너 자신은 스스로를 신뢰할 수 있다면,

 

 

만일 네가 기다릴 수 있고

또한 기다림에 지치지 않을 수 있다면,

거짓이 들리더라도 거짓과 타협하지 않으며

미움을 받더라도 그 미움에 지지 않을 수 있다면,

그러면서도 너무 선한 체하지 않고

너무 지혜로운 말들을 늘어놓지 않을 수 있다면,

 

 

만일 네가 꿈을 갖더라도

그 꿈의 노예가 되지 않을 수 있다면,

또한 네가 어떤 생각을 갖더라도

그 생각이 유일한 목표가 되지 않게 할 수 있다면,

 

 

그리고 만일 인생의 길에서 성공과 실패를 만나더라도

그 두 가지를 똑같은 것으로 받아들일 수 있다면,

네가 말한 진실이 왜곡되어 바보들이 너를 욕하더라도

너 자신은 그것을 참고 들을 수 있다면,

그리고 만일 너의 전 생애를 바친 일이 무너지더라도

몸을 굽히고서 그걸 다시 일으켜 세울 수 있다면,

 

 

한번쯤은 네가 쌓아 올린 모든 걸 걸고

내기를 할 수 있다면,

그래서 다 잃더라도 처음부터 다시 시작할 수 있다면,

그러면서도 네가 잃은 것에 대해 침묵할 수 있고

다 잃은 뒤에도 변함없이

네 가슴과 어깨와 머리가 널 위해 일할 수 있다면,

설령 너에게 아무것도 남아 있지 않는다 해도

강한 의지로 그것들을 움직일 수 있다면,

 

 

만일 군중과 이야기하면서도 너 자신의 덕을 지킬 수 있고

왕과 함께 걸으면서도 상식을 잃지 않을 수 있다면,

적이든 친구든 너를 해치지 않게 할 수 있다면,

모두가 너에게 도움을 청하되

그들로 하여금

너에게 너무 의존하지 않게 만들 수 있다면,

그리고 만일 네가 도저히 용서할 수 없는 1분간을

거리를 두고 바라보는 60초로 대신할 수 있다면,

그렇다면 세상은 너의 것이며

 

 

너는 비로소

한 사람의 어른이 되는 것이다.

 

 

 

 

IF

 

       - Joseph Rudyard Kipling

 

 

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 worn out tools...

 

​

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it in 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

 

 

 

 

✎ 키플링의 소설 <정글북>에 대한 자세한 소개는...

 

https://bookhappy.tistory.com/223

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