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PAIHISAN REVIEW
There are several ways besides Robinson Jeffers's to face how we feel about
ourselves and other forms of life, and I want to jump quite a few years to a
poem called "Ernigre." It's addressed to an emigre, and I had several in m.ind.
You will find it
much as you imagined
in some respects
which no one can predict
you will be homesick
at times for something you can describe
at times wi thout being able to say
what you miss
just as you used to feel when you were at home
some will complain from the start
that you club together
with your own kind
but only those who have
done what you have done
conceived of it longed for it
lain awake wai ting for it
and have come out wi th
no money no papers nothing
at your age
know what you have done
what you are talking about
and will find you a roof and cmployers
others will say from the start
that you avoid
those of your country
for a while
as your country becomes
a catcgory in the new place
and nobody remembers the same things
in the same way
and you come to the problem
of what to remember after all
and of what is your real
language
where does it come from what does it
sound like
who speaks it
