I heard a man say a poem once, he said, ‘All that lives is holy.’ —Steinbeck

 

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In daily speech, where we don’t stop to consider every word, we all use phrases like “the ordinary world,” “ordinary life,” “the ordinary course of events” 

But in the language of poetry, where every word is weighed, nothing is usual or normal. 

Not a single stone and not a single cloud above it. 

Not a single day and not a single night after it.


—Wisława Szymborska

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I would give all metaphors

in return for one word

drawn out of my breast like a rib

for one word

contained within the boundaries

of my skin


—Zbigniew Herbert
Czesław Miłosz version 

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creat(ure

   

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Wisdom is not assimilated with the eyes, but with the atoms. When your conviction of a truth is not merely in your brain but in your being, you may definitely vouch for its meaning.

—Sri Yukteswar

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The pebble
is a perfect creature 

equal to itself 
mindful of its limits  

filled exactly 
with a pebbly meaning 

with a scent that does not remind one of anything 
does not frighten anything away does not arouse desire 

its ardour and coldness 
are just and full of dignity 

I feel a heavy remorse 
when I hold it in my hand 
and its noble body 
is permeated by false warmth 

- Pebbles cannot be tamed - 
to the end they will look at us 
with a calm and very clear eye


—Zbigniew Herbert
Peter Dale Scott/Czesław Miłosz version

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Everything in the world has a hidden meaning.
Men, animals, trees, stars, they are all hieroglyphics. 

When you see them you do not understand them. 
You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. 

It is only years later that you understand.


—Nikos Kazantzakis

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