1.19.2023

I would like to be wrong

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. 
 

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