Saturday, April 10, 2010

czeslaw milosz!

here is milosz' craftsman (and there will be more):

Craftsman, prepare your instruments.

A tall echo comes down the mountain; you hear the roaring of spring torrents.

The beauty of the earth reveals itself for the first time to children's eyes just as it did once to yours.

Craftsman, you are building a star that will journey in the sky of those now being born,

While you withdraw without regret, thinking how difficult it was to live a life.

And to learn that we do not get what we wanted, and that the two greatest virtues are resignation and persistence.

Also that consciousness brings no solace, since it is the consciousness of a clown turning somersaults on a stage, hungry for applause.

You acquired unwelcome knowledge, of yourself and others; you are filled to the brim with pity and wonder.

May those who are destined to pick up your labor start where you finished, master of vanquished despair.

Praising, renewing, healing. Grateful because the sun rose for you and for others.

Milosz, Czeslaw. "Craftsman" New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2001.