from Czeslaw Milosz in Second Space (Harper Collins, 2004, New York; trans. by Milosz and Robert Hass)
If There is No God
If there is no God,
Not everything is permitted by man.
He is still his brother's keeper
And he is not permitted to sadden his brother,
By saying that there is no God.
...and from Robert Bly's collection, Eating the Honey of Words
When Threshing Time Ends
There is a time. Things end.
All the fields are clean.
Belts are put away.
And the horses go home.
What is left endures
In the minds of boys
Who wanted this joy
Never to end.
The splashing of hands,
Jokes and oats:
It was a music
Touching and fervent.
The Bible was right.
Presences come and go.
Wash in cold water.
The fire has moved.
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