#inspirationpost

Listen, if stars are lit, it means there is someone who needs it. It means that someone wants them to be, that someone deems those speckles of spit magnificent.

And overwrought, in the swirls of afternoon dust, he bursts in on God, afraid he might be already late. In tears, he kisses God’s sinewy hand and begs him to guarantee that there will definitely be a star. He swears he won’t be able to stand that starless ordeal.

Later, he wanders around, worried, but outwardly calm. And to someone else, he says: “Now, it’s all right. You are no longer afraid, are you?”

Listen, if stars are lit, it means there is someone who needs it. It means it is essential that every evening at least one star should ascend over the crest of the building.

Vladimir Mayakovsky, 1914

Translated by Maria Enzensberger, 1987

Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning's hush I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there. I did not die.