When a poet is born with all his excellences

And shortcomings, it is other men

Who see them for him.

If they did not tell him, he would not know

That he was more excellent

Or inadequate than them.

And when he knows it, he is as if

He did not know it; when he hears it,

He is as if he did not hear it.

His source of joy in it has no end,

And men's admiration of him has no end --

All this takes place quite naturally.

The love of the poet for many others

Receives its name from them.

If they did not tell him of it,

He would not know that he loved them;

And when he knows it, he is as if

He knew it not; when he hears it,

He is as if he heard it not.

His love of others never has an end,

And their rest in him has also no end --

All this takes place quite naturally.

He comprehends the connections

Between himself and all others,

And how they go to constitute him

Of one body with them,

And he does not know how it is so --

He naturally does it.

In fulfilling his constitution, as acted on

And acting, he simply follows the direction

Of Heaven; and it is in consequence

Of this that men style him a man of dreaming.

If he were troubled about the insufficiency

Of his knowledge, what he does

Would always be but small, and sometimes

Would be arrested altogether --

How would he in this case be the poet?