It Is There
Muriel Rukeyser, from Breaking Open (1973) Yes, it is there, the city full of music, Flute music, sounds of children, voices of poets, The unknown bird in his long call. The bells of peace. Essential peace, it sounds across the water In the long parks where the lovers are walking. Along the lake with its island and pagoda, And a boy learning to fish. His father threads the line. Essential peace, it sounds and it stills. Cockcrow. It is there, the human place. On what does it depend, this music, the children’s games? A long tradition of rest? Meditation? What [...]