Today's Sermon #50

THE SAME INSIDE

Walking to your place for a love fest
I saw at a street corner
an old beggar woman.

I took her hand,
kissed her delicate cheek,
we talked, she was
the same inside as I am,
from the same kind.
I sensed this instantly
as a dog knows by scent
another dog.

I gave her money,
I could not part from her.
After all, one needs
someone who is close.

And then I no longer knew
why I was walking to your place.

~ Anna Swirszczynska, 1909-1984
translated from Polish by Czeslaw Milosz & Leonard Nathan