Change of Times
Now that time has come, you have to be able
not only to fight for victory up to the end
but to endure it without conceit and wild joy
and more so to accept the timely defeat,
to admit it without humiliation and fake composure.
The others’ compassion and envy, the secret joy,
whatever form they might take, they enrich you
yet you never place responsibility on others
nor assume the whole responsibility yourself;
don’t look for good luck or postponements,
for unforeseen events which will always appear,
be careful especially for the hedonistic palindrome
between self-justification and self-condemnation.
You’ll come out of this a little wiser, if you only
learn to face all human things a bit more serenely.
