A Poem by Victor Hugo "I wish you"

First of all, I wish you love, and that by loving you may also be loved. But if it’s not like that, be brief in forgetting And after you’ve forgotten, don’t keep anything. I wish that wouldn’t happen, but if it does and you forget, you could be a person without desperation.

I also wish you may have a lot of friends, And even if they are bad and inconsequent, They should be brave and true And, at least one of them, should be completely reliable.

But because life is the way it is, I also wish you may have enemies. Not many or too little, just in the right number So that you will have to question your own certainties and truths as well. And may there be among them at least one who is just and fair, So that you can never feel too secure in your ideas.

I wish you may be useful but not irreplaceable And in your bad moments, When you have nothing else, That sense of usefulness will keep you on your feet.

So equally, I wish you to be tolerant, Not with those that make little mistakes, because that is easy, but with those that make a lot of mistakes and can’t help it. And make good use of this tolerance to set an example to others.

I wish that, being young, you don’t mature too quickly And once you’re mature, don’t insist in getting younger. And when you’re old, don’t feel despaired Because each age has its pains and pleasures And we need them both in our lives.

By the way, I wish you to be sad at least one day So on that day you may discover That to laugh everyday is good, To laugh often is boring And to laugh constantly is an illness.

I wish that you may discover With maximum urgency That, above and in spite of everything, There are people around you who are depressed, Unhappy and unjustly treated.

I wish you to caress a dog, To feed a bird and to listen to its chirp as well As it sings triumphantly early in the morning. Because this way you will feel good for no reason.

And then I wish you may sow a seed Even if it is really small. And may you accompany it in its growth. So that you will discover how many lives a tree is made of.

I wish as well that you may have money, because we need to be practical. And that, at least once a year, You put some of this money in front of you and say “This is mine”. So it is very clear who owns who.

Also, I wish none of your loved ones may die, But if some of them do, I wish you may cry without regret and without feeling guilty for the things you never said or the things you never did.

Finally, I wish for you that being a man, you may have a good woman and being a woman, you may have a good man. Tomorrow and the day after.

If all these things would happen to you, Then I wish for you nothing more.