It Is Not A Public Tragedy

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It is not a public tragedy 
Like Mandelshtam reaching out to time 
With the backbones of animals 
In cold exile.

Mine is private 
It does not have the vast sweep of sky
Or historical drama
The panorama is not so wide 

But transparent, a mere image 
While I am focusing
And refocusing 
With a thousand compound eyes.

David Rizzo

Notes:

1. Osip Mandelshtam was a Russian poet exiled by Stalin in the 1930’s. He died in Siberia in 1938.

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