Meaning

Here and there on the Internet I've seen people discuss the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz. Then, a few days ago, I ran across Milosz's poem "Meaning" at The Dish.



Suffice it to say, I was blown away. The poem is almost an exact expression (if the word "exact" is appropriate for poetry) of how I experience the life of faith. I've now got Milosz's New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001 on order.

Meaning by Czeslaw Milosz



When I die, I will see the lining of the world.

The other side, beyond bird, mountain, sunset.

The true meaning, ready to be decoded.

What never added up will add Up,

What was incomprehensible will be comprehended.

- And if there is no lining to the world?

If a thrush on a branch is not a sign,

But just a thrush on the branch? If night and day

Make no sense following each other?

And on this earth there is nothing except this earth?

- Even if that is so, there will remain

A word wakened by lips that perish,

A tireless messenger who runs and runs

Through interstellar fields, through the revolving galaxies,

And calls out, protests, screams.