Craftsman, prepare your instruments.
A tall echo comes down the mountain; you hear the roaring of spring torrents.
The beauty of the earth reveals itself for the first time to children's eyes just as it did once to yours.
Craftsman, you are building a star that will journey in the sky of those now being born,
While you withdraw without regret, thinking how difficult it was to live a life.
And to learn that we do not get what we wanted,
and that the two greatest virtues are resignation and persistence.
Also that consciousness brings no solace,
since it is the consciousness of a clown turning somersaults on a stage, hungry for applause.
You acquired unwelcome knowledge, of yourself and others; you are filled to the brim with pity and wonder.
May those who are destined to pick up your labor start where you finished, master of vanquished despair.
Praising, renewing, healing. Grateful because the sun rose for you and for others.
The title should be changed - it's about Czeslaw Milosz, not Oscar.
BTW, anyone who wants to experience some true literary and intellectual bliss, try Czeslaw Milosz's books and essays ("Captive Mind", "Native Realm", "Visions from the San Francisco Bay" or many others). Even his biography is utterly fascinating - it feels like he has experienced more during his lifetime than a dozen of your typical first-world pampered and bored office dwellers.
Within the last month or so I got around to reading Native Realm, which I found most interesting. I did think The Issa Valley a very good novel. Those who want to check Milosz out without committing to a long narrative might try one of his books of essays, for example To Begin Where I Am or Milosz's ABCs.
