So much world all at once – how it rustles and bustles! / Moraines and morays and morasses and mussels, / The flame, the flamingo, the flounder, the feather / how to line them up, how to put them together? / All the thickets and crickets and creepers and creeks. / The beeches and leeches alone could take weeks. / Chinchillas, gorillas, and sarsaparillas / Thanks so much, but this excess of kindness could kill us. / Where’s the jar for this burgeoning burdock, brooks’ babble, / rooks’ squabble, snakes’ squiggle, abundance, and trouble? / How to plug up the gold mines and pin down the fox, / How to cope with the lynx, bobolinks, streptococcus! / Take dioxide: a lightweight, but mighty in deeds; / What about octopodi, what about centipedes? / I could look into prices, but don’t have the nerve: / These are products I just can’t afford, don’t deserve. / Isn’t sunset a little too much for two eyes / That, who knows, may not open to see the sun rise? / I am just passing through, it’s a five-minute stop. / I won’t catch what is distant; what’s too close, I’ll mix up. / While trying to plumb what the void’s inner sense is, / I’m bound to pass by all these poppies and pansies. / What a loss when you think how much effort was spent / Perfecting this petal, this pistil, this scent / For the one-time appearance, which is all they’re allowed, / So aloofly precise and so fragilely proud.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wis%C5%82awa_Szymborska
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