by Wislawa Szymborska
Out of every hundred people
those who always know better:
fifty-two.
Unsure of every step:
nearly all the rest.
Ready to help,
as long as 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:
forty and four.
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 but things:
thirty
(although I would like to be wrong).
Doubled over in pain,
without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three,
sooner or later.
Those who are just:
quite a few at 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.
trans. from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak
Art: Golconda by Rene Magritte
