Just Because: 'Try To Praise the Mutilated World'

Zagajewski                                                                                       Michał Sosna

Just when I was starting to think I should post another poem, a dear friend noted this one. It is, I think, as profoundly perfect for today as it was when the New Yorker ran it after 9/11, though it was not written for that time. In explaining how the poem came about, the poet, Adam Zagajewski, said that it "reflects a philosophical conviction more than an event."

Try to praise the mutilated world.
Remember June's long days,
and wild strawberries, drops of wine, the dew.
The nettles that methodically overgrow
the abandoned homesteads of exiles.
You must praise the mutilated world.
You watched the stylish yachts and ships;
one of them had a long trip ahead of it,
while salty oblivion awaited others.
You've seen the refugees heading nowhere,
you've heard the executioners sing joyfully.
You should praise the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth's scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the grey feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.

   An interview with Zagajewski: http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2002/sepoct/16.31.html 
   More about the poet and the poem: http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2002/sepoct/16.31.html