I Am But A Short Detail (?Ch Nicht) Poem by Joseph S. Josephides

I am but a short detail of life a being
incidental that stares at nature’s harmony
of ducks, swans, small boats, horses.
The small things I am doing, I wish
at least to do them with great a love,
so to grow in the greenhouse of the universe.

I’m but a patriotic fighter; they have put me on
a uniform of a thin cloth; yet, when the sun rises,
it will be transformed into a bright panoply of steel.

I am but the utmost hope of Zeno, who sunk
as a trader but was brought out by the sea
as a philosopher; I’ll ascent to the Holy Rock
to erect a Stoa, thanks to golden talents I saved,
and feed my students and me frugally with honey.

Same way as Zeno of Kitium did, I can exclaim:
‘I found myself wrecked; well, I had a lovely trip’.

If other people say I’m a detail, I reply: ‘yes
but imperishable, with the corals, on the sea-bed.’