if it isn't it won't

if it isn’t it won’t

a theme for further reflection:

the arithmetic of compassion

                                                Zbigniew Herbert

                                                Mr. Cogito Reads the Newspaper

if you see them afterward

if they even know you or

if you even know them

if it is they and you and 
if you ar both absent of flesh and bone,

if it is you neither have and are without a mouth and tongue

if (we are so used to being

touched,

if even inappropriately)

isn’t it going to be hard to hold on,

isn’t it going to be like cold wintered over chimneys because

aren’t they long without heat

aren’t they long without smoke

aren’t they then suddenly when you come home flushed of all their guests:

humble the burst of bats or birds

humble the cough of soot

humble the sudden blue flame

humble the billowing creosote: up and out and still

if you see,

if you go back to,

if after that smoke’s kissed what it can of the brick

especially if it’s on to crumbling and broke clean and neat

if it is as it once was before it’s been set 

won’t it be cleared

won’t it be as if nothing

won’t it be as a slight limp

won’t it be as stiff

won’t it be as a word held on the tongue

like a bird under a thumb

like a little heart

like it or not, giving in, giving out