Life Has No Story is a poem by Estonian poet and translator Doris Kareva which forms part of the Poetry in Motion initiative celebrating 50 years of Ireland’s membership of the EU.
Life has no story,
life is unfolding.
Is it true that we get
all that we wish?
Is it true that we get
all as we deserve?
Is it true that we are caught
by all we evaded?
Time, you fleeting
and far-fetching thing –
life is no story,
but hope and honing
“The idea of a poem as a message in a bottle reminds us that no poem is an island, it needs a reader to complete the process,” says Liz Kelly, Director of Poetry Ireland. “Poems are waiting for the reader to uncork the bottle and rediscover the poem, experience that intimate connection across oceans, and miles, real and metaphorical.
A poem must be compact to float within the walls of its container, yet the possibilities are miraculously endless, it’s a song but it can also tell a story or a joke, paint a picture, bring news, pass on wisdom, give shelter, advice or knowledge, travel time, praise, lament or incant – the reader just needs to open that bottle.”
The European Parliament, European Commission, Poetry Ireland & Iarnród Éireann have partnered to bring a selection of poems from across the EU to commuters until the end of August.
