The Stars

--Simone Weil (tr. by Noah Rawlings)

Blazing stars, dotting the night sky’s distant plain,

Mute stars, forever frozen, forever spinning blind.

You tear from our hearts the days of yesteryear,

You toss us to tomorrow, heedless of our will,

And we weep, and all our cries to you are vain.

Since we must, we’ll follow you, our arms entwined,

Our eyes turned toward your brightness pure but bitter.

By your light, all sorrows matter little.

We fall silent, we stumble on our way.

Suddenly it’s there in our hearts: their divine flame.