They show me words

by Halina Poswiatowska

Halina Poswiatowska

they show me words
they say
the scent of roses can be found in a word
but all I find is paper paper and more paper neither fragrance
nor color
and I know that a spray of sparks
when workers are welding streetcar rails
while we stand around two ten-year-old boys and I
that spray of sparks
means light much more
than the word light
and when my friend paralyzed in a wheelchair
bites off a piece of bread I hand to him
the way he bends his head
the movement of his jaws
have more life in them
than the word life


Rainer Maria Rilke

Adam

Rainer Maria Rilke

Rachel

Anna Akhmatova