If I Am All Mankind, Are They

Language Is The Only Homeland.

I Was Left Behind With The Immensity Of Existing Things. A Sponge, Suffering Because It Cannot Saturate Itself; A River, Suffering Because Reflections Of Clouds And Trees Are Not Clouds And Trees.

Forget The Suffering You Caused Others. Forget The Suffering Others Caused You. The Waters Run And Run, Springs Sparkle And Are Done, You Walk The Earth You Are Forgetting. Sometimes You Hear A Distant Refrain. What Does It Mean, You Ask, Who Is Singing? A Childlike Sun Grows Warm. A Grandson And A Great-grandson Are Born. You Are Led By The Hand Once Again. The Names Of The Rivers Remain With You. How Endless Those Rivers Seem! Your Fields Lie Fallow, The City Towers Are Not As They Were. You Stand At The Threshold Mute.

Learning To Believe You Are Magnificent. And Gradually To Discover That You Are Not Magnificent. Enough Labor For One Human Life.

Leaves Glowing In The Sun, Zealous Hum Of Bumblebees, From Afar, From Somewhere Beyond The River, Echoes Of Lingering Voices And The Unhurried Sounds Of A Hammer Gave Joy Not Only To Me. Before The Five Senses Were Opened, And Earlier Than Any Beginning They Waited, Ready, For All Those Who Would Call Themselves Mortals, So That They Might Praise, As I Do, Life, That Is, Happiness.