He who is in a right position

Is above the reach

Both of praise and of detraction;

Now he mounts aloft

Like a dragon,

Now he keeps beneath

Like a snake.

He is transformed with

The changing character

Of the time,

And is not willing to addict himself

To any one thing.

Now in a high position

And now in a low,

He is in harmony

With all his surroundings,

Close and not;

He enjoys himself at ease

With the Maker of all things;

He treats things as things,

And is not a thing to them:

Where is his liability

To be involved

In the worldly trouble?

That was the time-proved remedy

Of the sagely minded men

At all times.

As to those who occupy themselves

With the qualities of things

And with the teachings and practices

Of the human relations --

It is not so with them.

If you ask me I would prefer

To be in a due position

Between being fit to be useful

And wanting that fitness

That would seem to be

The right position,

But it would not be so, . .

For it would not put me beyond

Being involved

In the worldly trouble.

If you ask me why this is so,

I would say, alas, I'm not a man

Like Confucius or Epicurus

Who always were readily available

For saving the world

From a holocaust of ignorance.