To the Young
You who for today are young
hear how truth must drive my words
your wits are keen for debate
your reason deep, so consider
what's sure in what I'm saying.
Love dearly what your homeland's done,
benefit from its blessings;
defend yourselves from damage,
do good deeds with due daring;
admit to what defeats you,
attend to the world's delivering;
be diligent in learning,
keep pace with foreign peers!
Our nation would be at an end
if we did not renew it -
and what would that future hold?
The children who succeed you:
what will they inherit
but what we elders have passed on?