Astonishment
Why after all this one and not the rest?
Why this specific self, not in a nest, But a house? Sewn up not in scales, but skin?
Not topped off by a leaf, but by a face?
Why on earth now, on Tuesday of all days,
And why on earth, pinned down by this star's pin?
In spite of years of my not being here?
In spite of seas of all these dates and faces,
These cells, celestials, and coelenterates?
What is it really that made me appear
Neither an inch nor half a globe too far
Why after all this one and not the rest?
Why this specific self, not in a nest, But a house? Sewn up not in scales, but skin?
Not topped off by a leaf, but by a face?
Why on earth now, on Tuesday of all days,
And why on earth, pinned down by this star's pin?
In spite of years of my not being here?
In spite of seas of all these dates and faces,
These cells, celestials, and coelenterates?
What is it really that made me appear
Neither an inch nor half a globe too far
( Wisława Szymborska )
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