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1 " I am who I am.A coincidence no less unthinkablethan any other.I could have had differentancestors, after all.I could have flutteredfrom another nestor crawled bescaledfrom under another tree.Nature's wardrobeholds a fair supply of costumes:spider, seagull, field mouse.Each fits perfectly right offand is dutifully worninto shreds. "
― Wisława Szymborska , Monologue of a Dog
2 " Some PeopleSome people flee some other people. In some country under a sun and some clouds. They abandon something close to all they’ve got, sown fields, some chickens, dogs, mirrors in which fire now preens. Their shoulders bear pitchers and bundles. The emptier they get, the heavier they grow. What happens quietly: someone’s dropping from exhaustion. What happens loudly: someone’s bread is ripped away, someone tries to shake a limp child back to life. Always another wrong road ahead of them, always another wrong bridge across an oddly reddish river. Around them, some gunshots, now nearer, now farther away, above them a plane seems to circle.Some invisibility would come in handy, some grayish stoniness, or, better yet, some nonexistence for a shorter or a longer while. Something else will happen, only where and what. Someone will come at them, only when and who, in how many shapes, with what intentions. If he has a choice, maybe he won’t be the enemy and will leave them to some sort of life. "
3 " Plato, or WhyFor unclear reasonsunder unknown circumstancesIdeal Being ceased to be satisfied.It could have gone on forever,hewn from darkness, forged from light,in its sleepy gardens above the world.Why on earth did it start seeking thrillsin the bad company of matter?What use could it have for imitators,inept, ill-starred,lacking all prospects for eternity?Wisdom limpingwith a thorn stuck in its heel?Harmony derailedby roiling waters?Beautyholding unappealing entrailsand Good —why the shadowwhen it didn’t have one before?There must have been some reason,however slight,but even the Naked Truth, busy ransackingthe earth’s wardrobe,won’t betray it.Not to mention, Plato, those appalling poets,litter scattered by the breeze from under statues,scraps from that great Silence up on high. "