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Late Ripeness by Czeslaw Milosz   
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Czeslaw Milosz
Czeslaw Milosz (1911 - 2004 / Kedainiai / Lithuania)
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Czesław Miłosz was born on June 30, 1911 in the village of Šeteniai (Kėdainiai district, Kaunas County) on the border between two Lithu .. more >>
33 poems of Czeslaw Milosz
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Late Ripeness

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  Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year,
I felt a door opening in me and I entered
the clarity of early morning.

One after another my former lives were departing,
like ships, together with their sorrow.

And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas
assigned to my brush came closer,
ready now to be described better than they were before.

I was not separated from people,
grief and pity joined us.
We forget - I kept saying - that we are all children of the King.

For where we come from there is no division
into Yes and No, into is, was, and will be.

We were miserable, we used no more than a hundredth part
of the gift we received for our long journey.

Moments from yesterday and from centuries ago -
a sword blow, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror
of polished metal, a lethal musket shot, a caravel
staving its hull against a reef - they dwell in us,
waiting for a fulfillment.

I knew, always, that I would be a worker in the vineyard,
as are all men and women living at the same time,
whether they are aware of it or not.

Czeslaw Milosz


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Read poems about / on: mirror, journey, women, grief, sorrow, together, children, people, woman, city, child

 
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  Poetry Hound  (8/24/2006 9:01:00 AM)

What an original way to describe how we're all bound together.
 
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