WE know Emily today not because she had great talent
that’s a given
but because she had great luck.
She wrote a letter to the one person who would help her.
We know Kafka today because his best friend betrayed him.
I could go on.
The observation is not that we came so close to not knowing
these visionaries
but that we don’t know the ones who wrote the wrong letter
or had loyal friends.
How very many sages remain unknown to history?
We can’t answer that.
When all is finally over, earth exhausted by its native evil
and God gathers God’s own into God’s kingdom
will you finally get your reward, you great unknowns,
or will there be so many of us that we remain
anonymous?
