Subject: Commonplace

From: [email-masked] (Natalie Glance)
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 1994 15:35:57 PDT

In _Provinces_, by Czeslaw Milosz

		Meaning

_When I die, I will see the lining of the world.
The other side, beyond bird, nation, sunset.
The true meaning, ready to be decoded.
What never added up, will add up,
What was incomprehensible will be comprehended.

_And if there is no lining to the world?
If a thrush on a branch is not a sign,
But just a thrush on the branch?  If night and day
Make no sense following each other?
And on this earth there is nothing except this earth?

_Even if that is so, there will remain
A word wakened by lips that perish,
A tireless messenger who runs and runs
Through interstellar fields, through the revolving galaxies,
And calls out, protests, screams.

-----------------------------------

Natalie Glance
[email-masked]