The Just
A man who, as Voltaire wished, cultivates his garden. He who is grateful that music exists on earth. He who discovers an etymology with pleasure. A pair in a Southern café, enjoying a silent game of chess. The potter meditating on colour and form. The typographer who set this, though perhaps not pleased. A man and a woman reading the last triplets of a certain canto. He who is stroking a sleeping creature. He who justifies, or seeks to, a wrong done him. He who is grateful for Stevenson’s existence. He who prefers the others to be right. These people, without knowing, are saving the world.
The Just - meaning Summary
Ordinary Acts Sustain the World
The poem defines justice through small, private acts rather than public heroism. Borges gathers people who cultivate, read, make art, show gratitude, care for animals, forgive injury, or let others be right. None sees their actions as heroic, yet the closing claim gives these ordinary choices moral consequence: attention, generosity, and pleasure in culture quietly help preserve the world.
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