5/17/90

Each age benefits from the accomplishments of
all the previous ages. With such a large
inheritance, why worry? The individual
becomes the bored driver of a conveyance
he or she has little knowledge of, takes little care
of, so eventually, it becomes
untrustworthy- like her or him.

*

Translation Sans Original

You think I'm too old
Or too slow
To notice the sun is tapering off
You think I'm too silent
Or too dense
To find the whirling planets dull
And academically repetitive
For me day is easy
And night is easier still
For me sleep is a page in a book
I still haven't read
Can't you brush against words
Instead of demanding their participation
And telling them to grow up and settle down?
Don't you understand
That language is young and doesn't know yet
In whose tongue to speak?
Tell you friends that speech
Has no nation
That the crown is an umbrella
For paragraphs.
Walk around this spacious world
With things left over
From this morning.
Be transparent.
Let living stammer