“All the innocent head has in store for itself is an ax plus the evergreen laurel.”
About This Quote
The evergreen laurel is not all that special, but at least it blooms, and while Brodksy probably thought he was saying something very sad here, it's really one of the more affirmative messages of poetry: your birthing is more interesting (or at least persistent) than your dying.
More from Joseph Brodsky
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“This feeling I’ve lost. That’s what really puzzles.”