Statistics

[xoxoxoBruce]

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.