A Word on Statistics

[levvygotsky.livejournal.com]

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

Comments

[karmaisspecial.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. :)

[woodwind.livejournal.com]

how what you need and feel always finds you at exactly the right time.

[delia-deville.livejournal.com]

Nice.
Well, honest and nicely done.

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I really like this.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Stopped me in my tracks. I love it.

[mariaklob.livejournal.com]

I love this one. Thanks for bringing it up!

It is nice to read the fifth stanza and imagine that ninety-five, maybe ninety-six, of us have to struggle to be good.

[ghostsandlovers.livejournal.com]

Very refreshing read.

Balled up in pain
and without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three, sooner or later.

This part is pretty terrifying.

[med_cat]

Marvelous! Thanks for sharing :)

[wolf-of-kromer.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to show this to someone tomorrow.