Miracle. All of It. (Miracle Fair)

Posted on by Live & Learn

Commonplace miracle:
that so many commonplace miracles happen.

An ordinary miracle:
in the dead of night
the barking of invisible dogs.

One miracle out of many:
a small, airy cloud
yet it can block a large and heavy moon.

Several miracles in one:
an alder tree reflected in the water,
and that it’s backwards left to right
and that it grows there, crown down
and never reaches the bottom,
even though the water is shallow.

An everyday miracle:
winds weak to moderate
turning gusty in storms.

First among equal miracles:
cows are cows.

Second to none:
just this orchard
from just that seed.

A miracle without a cape and top hat:
scattering white doves.

A miracle, for what else could you call it:
today the sun rose at three-fourteen
and will set at eight-o-one.

A miracle, less surprising than it should be:
even though the hand has fewer than six fingers,
it still has more than four.

A miracle, just take a look around:
the world is everywhere.

An additional miracle, as everything is additional:
the unthinkable
is thinkable.

~ Wislawa Szymborska, “Miracle Fair” (tr. Joanna Trzeciak) in “Miracle Fair: Selected Poems of Wislawa Szymborska”

Notes:

  • Poem -Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels. Photo/Gif: via mennyfox55
  • Related Posts: Miracle. All of it.
  • Inspiration: Inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

26 thoughts on “Miracle. All of It. (Miracle Fair)”

          1. “There are wild flowers in my desert

            which take up to twenty years to bloom.

            …they remember what their god whispered

            into their ribs: Wake up and ache for your life.”

            ~ Natalie Diaz

          3. But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
            say, the window of the corner video store, and I’m gripped by a cherishing so deep

            for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless:

            I am living.

            ~ Marie Howe, from “What the Living Do” in From What the Living Do

    1. I can’t speak for elsewhere,
      but here on Earth we’ve got a fair supply of everything.
      Here we manufacture chairs and sorrows,
      scissors, tenderness, transistors, violins,
      teacups, dams, and quips …

      Like nowhere else, or almost nowhere,
      you’re given your own torso here,
      equipped with the accessories required
      for adding your own children to the rest.
      Not to mention arms, legs, and astounded head…

      ~ Wislawa Szymborska, from “Here” in “Here” translated by Clare Cavanagh, Stanislaw Baranczak (Mariner Books, August 16, 2013)

    2. So it happens that I am and look.
      Above me a white butterfly is fluttering through the air
      on wings that are its alone
      and a shadow skims through my hands
      that is none other, no one else’s, but its own.

      When I see such things I’m no longer sure
      that what’s important
      is more important than what’s not.

      ~ Wislawa Szymborska, “No Title Required” from View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems (Harcourt Brace; 1st edition, May 26, 1995)

  6. I love the lines “the unthinkable is thinkable” … and the image of the alder tree and the several miracles that it creates. This post of yours is one of the reasons I enjoy being up early. Thanks, Dave.

  8. You. At the drop of a hat can just throw out these lovely snippets… I can just sit back and read and smile… I got nuthin’!

  10. I love the miracle of a rainbow! I was reading something last week about 40 degree arch and rainbows. – Christie

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