by Adam Zagajewski<\/p>\n
In a small black town, your town,
\nwhere even trains linger unwilling,
\nanxious to be on their way,
\nin a park, defying soot and shadows,
\na gray building stands lined with mother-of-pearl.<\/p>\n
Forget the snow, the frost’s repeated blows;
\ninside you’re greeted by a damp anthology of breezes
\nand the enigmatic whispers of vast leaves
\ncoiled like lazy snakes.\u00a0 Even an Egyptologist
\ncouldn’t make them out.<\/p>\n
Forget the sadness of dark stadiums and streets,
\nthe weight of thwarted Sundays.
\nAccept the warm breath wafting from the plants.
\nThe gentle scent of faded lightning
\nengulfs you, beckoning you on.<\/p>\n
Perhaps you see the rusty sails of ships at port,
\nislands snared in rosy mist, crumbling temples’ towers;
\nyou glimpse what you’ve lost, what never was,
\nand people with lives
\nlike your own.<\/p>\n
Suddenly you see the world lit differently,
\nother people’s doors swing open for a moment,
\nyou read their hidden thoughts, their holidays don’t hurt,
\ntheir happiness is less opaque, their faces
\nalmost beautiful.<\/p>\n
Lost yourself, go blind from ecstasy,
\nforgetting everything, and then perhaps
\na deeper memory, a deeper recognition will return,
\nand you’ll hear yourself saying: I don’t know how–
\nthe palm trees opened up my greedy heart.<\/p>\n
–read at St. Lydia’s on January 16<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Adam Zagajewski In a small black town, your town, where even trains linger unwilling, anxious to be on their way, in a park, defying soot and shadows, a gray building stands lined with mother-of-pearl. Forget the snow, the frost’s repeated blows; inside you’re greeted by a damp anthology of breezes and the enigmatic whispers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":546,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions\/546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}