The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Wed 3/5/2008)

[RetroLounge]

And Yet The Books

And yet the books will be there on the shelves, separate beings,
That appeared once, still wet
As shining chestnuts under a tree in autumn,
And, touched, coddled, began to live
In spite of fires on the horizon, castles blown up,
Tribes on the march, planets in motion.
“We are, ” they said, even as their pages
Were being torn out, or a buzzing flame
Licked away their letters. So much more durable
Than we are, whose frail warmth
Cools down with memory, disperses, perishes.
I imagine the earth when I am no more:
Nothing happens, no loss, it’s still a strange pageant,
Women’s dresses, dewy lilacs, a song in the valley.
Yet the books will be there on the shelves, well born,
Derived from people, but also from radiance, heights.

Czeslaw Milosz

************

:hi:

RL

[xchrom]

1. i love the book-sellers stalls on the seine in paris

or the many flea markets all over europe where you can find books by the thousands -- or pages from manuscripts by many, many more.

that's what is think of when i read this.

[RetroLounge]

4. ...

:hi:

RL

[hisownpetard]

2. Beautiful, and comforting.

Thanks!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Retro...

Oh, lovely!

This says it all:

...I imagine the earth when I am no more:
Nothing happens, no loss, it’s still a strange pageant,
Women’s dresses, dewy lilacs, a song in the valley.
Yet the books will be there on the shelves, well born,
Derived from people, but also from radiance, heights.

Perfect.

Thank you!



:hug: