It is not seemly to be famous: br Celebrity does not exalt; br There is no need to hoard your writings br And to preserve them in a vault. br br To give your all-this is creation, br And not-to deafen and eclipse. br How shameful, when you have no meaning, br To be on everybody's lips! br br Try not to live as a pretender, br But so to manage your affairs br That you are loved by wide expanses, br And hear the call of future years. br br Leave blanks in life, not in your papers, br And do not ever hesitate br To pencil out whole chunks, whole chapters br Of your existence, of your fate. br br Into obscurity retiring br Try your development to hide, br As autumn mist on early mornings br Conceals the dreaming countryside. br br Another, step by step, will follow br The living imprint of your feet; br But you yourself must not distinguish br Your victory from your defeat. br br And never for a single moment br Betray your credo or pretend, br But be alive-this only matters- br Alive and burning to the end.