It Is Not You Comments

The closing stanza clarifies and celebrates your high regard for Brodsky. I'm glad I read his poems and kept track of his life in America so that I can now appreciate your veneration of him. But your bond with him is transcendent, it is a deeply Russian experience. i admire this bond greatly but I would never be so vain to say, Oh, I know exactly what you mean by your love and respect for this poet. No, that would small-minded of me. There are unique experiences each individual has with another soul-presence as you do with Joseph. There's no room for another person, and that's the nature of this bond. It is one-on-one, as we say in English. He gives you strength from another realm, you keep his memory alive in this world. It's a blessed exchange, and it will thrive forever. I feel its truth and goodness vicariously, and that enriches me.