As the trees which stand
guard on each
side of the street
don't so much tarnish
as burnish
to flame-yellow,
all of the neighborhood
residents are invited
to see, at one
instant, the impossible
mystery
paradoxically inherent
in their own
continuity—
for, although the act
of thought remains
ruthlessly abstract,
the picture, for once, is made
crystalline plain:
like these, we may
stand straight and
stoically die
in order to watch our
way of life survive,
knowing life-after-
sacrifice snaps
to sheer certainty
when the seed
of all futures
is contained
in today.
