My-ness by Czesław Miłosz

My-ness

“My parents, my husband, my brother, my sister.”

I am listening in a cafeteria at breakfast.

The women's voices rustle, fulfill themselves

In a ritual no doubt necessary.

I glance sidelong at their moving lips

And I delight in being here on earth

For one more moment, with them, here on earth,

To celebrate our tiny, tiny my-ness.

 

(Translated by Czesław Miłosz and Robert Hass)