Saturday, May 13, 2006

A Body Was Given To Me

A lovely poem by Osip Mandelstam found at The Middle Stage.

A Body Was Given To Me

A body was given to me - what to do with it,
So unique and so much my own?

For the quiet joy of breathing and living,
Who is it, tell me, that I must thank?

I am the gardener, I am the flower as well,
In the dungeon of the world I am not alone.

On the glass of eternity has already settled
My breathing, my warmth.

A pattern prints itself on it,
Unrecognizable of late.

Let the lees of the moment trickle down -
The lovely pattern must not be wiped away.
What a beautiful and elegant way to state the paradox of consciousness: "I am the gardener, I am the flower as well".

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