Museum
stone axes and the like
lie quietly beyond the glass
constellations rotate endlessly
many of us become extinct
many of us appear
then
comets endlessly miss collision
lots of dishes and the like are broken
Eskimo dogs walk over the South Pole
great tombs are built both east and west
books of poems are often dedicated
recently
the atom’s being smashed to bits
the daughter of a president is singing
such things as these
have been happening
stone axes and the like
lie absurdly quiet behind the glass
Shuntaro Tanikawa
from The Selected Poems of Shuntaro Tanikawa, Translated from the Japanese by Harold Wright. North Point Press, San Francisco 1983.
