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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Gift


(Honeysuckle, by William Morris, 1834-1896,
English textile designer, artist and writer)

GIFT

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.

~ Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), Polish poet, essayist and translator, and winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature

2 comments:

Barbara Sullivan Mangogna said...

That is so beautiful I love this poet. Barbara in St. Louis

Steven Scallon said...

It is the middle of February. The temperature outside is below freezing. There are no leaves on the trees. My lawn and garden are covered in snow and ice. I was looking for something to remind me of late spring, early summer when I can work in the herb garden, and have time to watch the birds play. This poem brought right where I needed to be. It talks of wanting nothing, envying no one, forgetting your troubles and just enjoying where and who you are and what you are doing.