Miroslav Holub’s poem ‘A Dog in the Quarry’ was an enjoyable poem to read and then to contemplate more deeply by transreading it. I appreciate how the poem addresses the multiple layers of reality and instinct. The closing line, ‘There are days when no answer is needed’, resonated with my current effort to be present and be with the questions and the searching without too much anticipation of an answer.
There are days when no answer is needed.
We’re born midstream of two lives that reach for each other.
It’s a question of that reach lived into adulthood.
Questioning, working, searching
and reaching until the question is enough.
There are days when no answer is needed.
We are not Theseus. For the fully mortal,
Aegeus hid neither sword nor sandal.
It’s a question of continual motion.
It’s a question of getting through the airport
without wanting to change your whole life.
There are days when no answer is needed.
It’s a question of everyone we have loved
both briefly and over time and at a price.
It’s a question of who to love and how.
It’s a question of setting out on the open
road only for a brief glimpse of distance.
There are days when no answer is needed.
It’s a question of waking, if at all, to mystery.