Day 6/30 - clear as a windowpane


I was lazing on the rug watching “The Godfather” yesterday afternoon when I looked up and saw the balcony floor bathed in this beautiful light.

Today is Sunday. While Saturday was a day for lazing, Sunday is a day for rest. In rest, we give thanks and praise. We find and search our hearts for thanks and praise, even if we do not wake up in it. And i share this poem on Sunday because it is a poem of immense light.

I found this poem in a my favorite anthology edited by Czeslaw Milosz. It is written by Polish writer Anna Kamienski (1920-1986). Milosz wrote: “Anna Kamienski was a Christian deeply living both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In her old age she achieved much serenity and acceptance of the world created by God. I find this a very good poem.”

A Prayer that will be Answered
Lord let me suffer much
and then die

Let me walk through silence 
and leave nothing behind not even fear

Make the world continue
let the ocean kiss the sand just as before 

Let the grass stay green
so that frogs can hide in it

so that someone can bury his face in it
and sob out his love

Make the day rise brightly
as if there were no more pain

And let my poem stand clear as a windowpane
bumped by a bumblebee’s head 

(Translated from the Polish by Stanislaw Barabczak and Clare Cavanagh)

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