Manfred Peter Hein's poems take stock; they are self-affirmations about the author's place in the world, expeditions into the night labyrinth. They convey a sense of calm, yet are anything but tranquil. Hein is an author of empathy, concerned with the fate of others as well as the political currents of his time. His perspective comes from afar, from the geographical distance of his chosen home in Finland, and it reaches into the depths of space, where spirits part and the present is merely a moment in a larger story.