xoxoxoBruce • Mar 22, 2020 1:32 am
A WORD ON STATISTICS
by Wislawa Szymborska (translated from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak)
Out of every hundred people,
those who always know better:
fifty-two.
Unsure of every step:
almost all the rest.
Ready to help, if it doesn't take long:
forty-nine.
Always good, because they cannot be otherwise:
four -- well, maybe five.
Able to admire without envy:
eighteen.
Led to error by youth (which passes):
sixty, plus or minus.
Those not to be messed with:
four-and-forty.
Living in constant fear of someone or something:
seventy-seven.
Capable of happiness:
twenty-some-odd at most.
Harmless alone, turning savage in crowds:
more than half, for sure.
Cruel when forced by circumstances:
it's better not to know, not even approximately.
Wise in hindsight:
not many more than wise in foresight.
Getting nothing out of life except things:
thirty (though I would like to be wrong).
Balled up in pain and without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three, sooner or later.
Those who are just:
quite a few, thirty-five.
But if it takes effort to understand:
three.
Worthy of empathy:
ninety-nine.
Mortal:
one hundred out of one hundred --
a figure that has never varied yet.
by Wislawa Szymborska (translated from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak)
Out of every hundred people,
those who always know better:
fifty-two.
Unsure of every step:
almost all the rest.
Ready to help, if it doesn't take long:
forty-nine.
Always good, because they cannot be otherwise:
four -- well, maybe five.
Able to admire without envy:
eighteen.
Led to error by youth (which passes):
sixty, plus or minus.
Those not to be messed with:
four-and-forty.
Living in constant fear of someone or something:
seventy-seven.
Capable of happiness:
twenty-some-odd at most.
Harmless alone, turning savage in crowds:
more than half, for sure.
Cruel when forced by circumstances:
it's better not to know, not even approximately.
Wise in hindsight:
not many more than wise in foresight.
Getting nothing out of life except things:
thirty (though I would like to be wrong).
Balled up in pain and without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three, sooner or later.
Those who are just:
quite a few, thirty-five.
But if it takes effort to understand:
three.
Worthy of empathy:
ninety-nine.
Mortal:
one hundred out of one hundred --
a figure that has never varied yet.
