". . . We started to read aloud, each in turn, from Judith Cowan's translation and my original. Then the miracle occurred: two citizens of this land breaking down word by word . . . all the angry pride, the incomprehension, and the dull and stupid soliloquies that have been the distinguishing characteristic of our peoples' history for the last two centuries . . . The role of poetry is to bear witness. In times of emergency, that is its primary role. As time passes, it becomes more and more urgent to choose between the light and the darkness. And at this moment of my life, I have chosen the light." -- from the Introduction