A Word on Statistics BY WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA

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:

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 except things:

thirty

(though I would like to be wrong).



Doubled over in pain

and 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.