The Bottom Line Poem by Abraham Sutzkever

I shall leave behind nothing, nothing.
His Excellency Nothing I shall not leave
For others: over there, what has happened may recur,
With Adam-Eve like old acquaintances.

I shall leave behind nothing, nothing.
I must confirm a line in From the Forest:
Wherever my word can reach, there I am.
My every word an open eye. A Milky Way of eyes
Shone through me in the dark, illuminating
The visions of unseen atoms.

I shall take with me from the would-be nonexistence
My cradle, my broom I once wanted to compare
To a dried rain, my first dove
That learned humming up to her Creator.

And I swear I shall
Take with me the breath of my extinguished friends:
When I gnawed on wood, they fed me
With the honey of friendship.

I shall take with me a pebble
Inscribed with letters by no human hand.

February 12, 1990