print previewback EDWARD MAYES
On Lines from Czesław Miłosz’s “Meaning”
And calls out, protests, screams.
—Do you still have the notebook where
You kept a list of future saints who
Repented their denials, since you’ve
Often wondered who will answer, after all,
The call, after being thrice-asked?—What word have you found that can be
Shouted the loudest, belief or disbelief,
Belief or unbelief, belief or misbelief,
Who can deny the winds their change of
Direction, who stands there to witness?—You weren’t the only one in line at the lost
And found and lost again counter, plenty of us,
Most of us suspending our credence in order
To understand the ecstatic, pain’s gone,
Fear’s gone, and all that is left is the future.
