One More Contradiction, by CZESLAW MILOSZ
Did I fulfill what I had to, here, on earth?
I was a guest in a house under white clouds
Where rivers flow and grasses renew themselves.
So what if I were called, if I was hardly aware.
The next time early I would search for wisdom.
I would not pretend I could be just like the others:
Only evil and suffering come from that.
Renouncing, I would choose the fate of obedience.
I would suppress my wolf’s eye and greedy throat.
A resident of some cloister floating in the air
With a view on cities glowing below,
Or onto a stream, a bridge and old cedars,
I would give myself to one task only
Which then, however, could not be accomplished.
From “Facing the River: New Poems” by Czeslaw Milosz, translated by the author and Robert Hass. (Ecco Press: $13; 66 pp.) Copyright 1995 Reprinted by permission.