all these prayers

 

So a little spring prays to the ocean, 

so the beating heart prays to the heart of the universe, 

so the little word prays to the great Logos,

 so a dust speck prays to the earth, 

so the earth prays to the cosmos, 

so the one prays to the billion, 

so human love prays to God’s love, 

so always prays to never, 

so the moment prays to eternity, 

so the snowflake prays to winter, 

so the frightened beast prays to the forest silence, 

so uncertainty prays to beauty itself.

And all these prayers are heard.

~ Anna Kamieńska

from In the Great River: A Notebook

with thanks to love is a place

through the body

 

 

 

Our weaknesses are the way to God

 

Tell me why it is through the body

 

through torment of the body you speak to the spirit

 

why through leprosy fever deafness

 

You are a healer and not a priest

 

you take in your hands the head of the dying

 

from one lump you bring forth new life 

 

like bread you multiply the body

 

You come through bodies not through sunsets

 

and the hard strong hand of blood and flesh

 

holds in the palm like a sparrow

 

the muscle of the human heart

 

 

 

 

~ Anna Kamienska

from Astonishments

 

 

 

 

lack of faith

 

 

 

 

 

Yes

 

even when I don't believe

 

there is a place in me

 

inaccessible to unbelief

 

a patch of wild grace

 

a stubborn preserve

 

impenetrable

 

pain untouched sleeping in the body

 

music that builds its nest in silence

 

 

 

 

 

~ Anna Kamienska

from Astonishments

 art Detail from Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein

 

funny

What’s it like to be a human
the bird asked

I myself don’t know
it’s being held prisoner by your skin
while reaching infinity

being a captive of your scrap of time
while touching eternity

being hopelessly uncertain
and helplessly hopeful

being a needle of frost
and a handful of heat

breathing in the air
and choking wordlessly

it’s being on fire
with a nest made of ashes

eating bread
while filling up on hunger

it’s dying without love
it’s loving through death

That’s funny said the bird
and flew effortlessly up into the air

—Anna Kamienska 

from Astonishments 

translated by Grazyna Drabik and David Curzon

with thanks to love is a place