22nd August, 1939
Kenneth Rexroth
"
. when you want to distract your mother from the
discouraging soulness, I will tell you what I used to do.
To take her for a long walk in the quiet country, gather–
ing wildflowers here and there, resting under the shade
of trees, between the harmony of the vivid stream and the
gentle tranquillity of the mothernature, and I am sure she
will enjoy this very much, as you surely will be happy
for it. But remember always, Dante, in the play of hap–
piness, don't use all for yourself only, but down yourself
just one step, at your side and help the weak ones that
cry for help, help the prosecuted and the victim; because
they are your better friends; they are the comrades that
fight and fall as your father and Bartolo fought and fell
yesterday, for the conquest of the joy of freedom for all
and the poor workers. In this struggle of life you will
find more love and you will be loved."
Nicola Sacco to his son Dante, Aug. 18, 1927
"Angst und Gestalt und Gebet"-Rilke
What is it all for, this poetry,
Tnis bundle of accomplishment
Put together with so much pain?
Twenty years at hard labor,
Lessons learned from Li Po and Dante,
Indian chants and gestalt psychology;
What words can it spell,
This alphabet of one sensibility?
The pure pattern of the stars in orderly progression,
The thin air of fourteen thousand foot summits,
Their Pisgah views into what secrets of the personality,
The fire of poppies in eroded fields,
The sleep of lynxes in the noonday forest,
The curious anastomosis of the webs of thought,
Life streaming ungovernably away,
And the deep hope of man.
73
