107 ~on statistics

A WORD ON STATISTICS

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.

A Word On Statistics, by Wislawa Szymborska. 

Translated from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak.

 *****

Click to order  I say Who, What, and Where!

an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.

Click to order  Deconstructing INFATUATION
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.

Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All rights reserved.