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" "You’ve seen the refugees heading nowhere,
you’ve heard the executioners sing joyfully.
You should praise the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth’s scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.
Adam Zagajewski (21 June 1945 – 21 March 2021) was a Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. His poem "Try To Praise The Mutilated World", printed in The New Yorker, became famous after the September 11 attacks.
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