19.03

I misbehaved in the cosmos yesterday.
I lived around the clock without questions, without surprise.

I performed daily tasks
as if only that were required.

Inhale, exhale, right foot, left, obligations,
not a thought beyond
getting there and getting back.

The world might have been taken for bedlam,
but I took it just for daily use.

No whats -- no what fors --
and why on earth it is -- and how come it needs so many moving parts.

I was like a nail stuck only halfway in the wall or
(comparison I couldn’t find).

One change happened after another
even in a twinkling’s narrow span.

Yesterday’s bread was sliced otherwise
by a hand a day younger at a younger table.

Clouds like never before and rain like never,
since it fell after all in different drops.

The world rotated on its axis,
but in a space abandoned forever.

This took a good 24 hours.
1,440 minutes of opportunity.
86,400 seconds for inspection.

The cosmic savoir vivre
may keep silent on our subject,
still it makes a few demands: occasional attention, one or two of Pascal’s thoughts,
and amazed participation in a game
with rules unknown.

Wislawa Szymborska translated by Clare Cavanagh