As if it were I who thought all the things

that were once thought,

perhaps by me, perhaps by others:

I knew them all.

It is not enough to live for no purpose

with nothing in your hands,

that is, nothing in your mind,

for there are many places to go, not one vague continent:

The world does not become smaller.

That is what I hear them say the first day:

"My, it's a small world, isn't it?"

From the first day here,

yes, I knew them all,

and then I knew what was wrong

in what I heard them say.

 

Sally Clay
­1960



*** Sharewrite 2005 Sally Clay ***
Permission is granted for personal distribution of this document
as long as it is unchanged in any way and this notice is included.
For permission to reprint it for general publication, contact me at
zangmo@sallyclay.net.


 


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