The Fool

A horse should be feared from the tail-end, my friend: 

From the fore-end—the cow and the bull. 

But— 

    from all points of view, 

          from beginning to end, 

Beware, beware of the fool!

Whenever a fool is installed in the place 

Intended by right for the wise 

The fool’s true identity promptly to trace 

Is hard for the keenest of eyes.

For sometimes a fool may be glib and polite, 

Not at all an inveterate brute. 

The fool may be able to speak and to write 

Or to be quite impressively mute.

One fool single-handed can muddle, my friend, 

So much in a moment’s course 

That ten hundred men will be helpless to mend 

By wisdom, patience or force.

But here we may mention a general rule 

To be followed by wise men hereafter: 

Though there’s plentiful reasons to fear a fool, 

Remember: a fool fears laughter!

Translated by Dorian Rottenberg

SERGEI MIKHALKOV