Miracle Fair

MIRACLE FAIR

The commonplace miracle: 
that so many common miracles take place.
 

The usual miracles: 
invisible dogs barking 
in the dead of night.
 

One of many miracles: 
a small and airy cloud 
is able to upstage the massive moon.
 

Several miracles in one: 
an alder is reflected in the water 
and is reversed from left to right 
and grows from crown to root 
and never hits bottom 
though the water isn't deep.
 

A run-of-the-mill miracle: 
winds mild to moderate 
turning gusty in storms.
 

A miracle in the first place: 
cows will be cows.
 

Next but not least: 
just this cherry orchard 
from just this cherry pit.
 

A miracle minus top hat and tails: 
fluttering white doves.
 

A miracle (what else can you call it): 
the sun rose today at three fourteen a.m. 
and will set tonight at one past eight.
 

A miracle that's lost on us: 
the hand actually has fewer than six fingers 
but still it's got more than four.
 

A miracle, just take a look around: 
the inescapable earth.
 

An extra miracle, extra and ordinary: 
the unthinkable 
can be thought. 
 
 

~ Wislawa Szymborska ~
 

(View With a Grain of Sand, translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh)
 

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