The valuable time of maturity (in life and work)

I normally would go to great lengths to connect a piece of prose or poetry to some pithy business concept before publishing it on this blog, so as to not go all la-la on you. But sometimes it doesn’t seem necessary.

So here you go, and I’ll leave it to you to connect it to work/business if and how you wish. Note: This is one of several translations of the piece “The Valuable Time of Maturity”:

“I counted my years and discovered that I have
less time to live going forward than I have lived until now.

I have more past than future.
I feel like the boy who received a bowl of candies.
The first ones, he ate ungraciously,
but when he realized there were only a few left,
he began to taste them deeply.

I do not have time to deal with mediocrity.

[ . . . ]

People do not discuss content, only the labels.
My time has become too scarce to discuss labels,
I want the essence, my soul is in a hurry…
Not many candies left in the bowl…

I want to live close to human people,
very human, who laugh at their own stumbles,
and away from those turned smug and overconfident with their triumphs,
away from those filled with self-importance,
Who do not run away from their responsibilities
Who defend human dignity.
And who only want to walk on the side of truth and honesty.

The essential is what makes life worthwhile.

I want to surround myself with people,
who know how to touch the hearts of people ….
People to whom the hard knocks of life,
taught them to grow with softness in their soul.

Yes …. I am in a hurry … to live with intensity,
that only maturity can bring.
I intend not to waste any part of the goodies I have left …
I’m sure they will be more exquisite than most of which so far I’ve eaten.

My goal is to arrive at the end satisfied and in peace
with my loved ones and my conscience . . . ” 

by Mario de Andrade (San Paolo 1893–1945)
Poet, novelist, essayist and musicologist from Brazil