Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska
From Wislawa Szymborska’s “The People on the Bridge”, 1986, for which the author won The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996.
The poem is about the paradox that is the existence of death. The poet suggest that in order to talk and think about death it is necessary to undermine its significance.
It can't take a joke,
find a star, make a bridge.
It knows nothing about weaving, mining, farming,
building ships, or baking cakes.
In our planning for tomorrow,
it has the final word,
which is always beside the point.
It can't even get the things done
that are part of its trade:
dig a grave,
make a coffin,
clean up after itself.
Preoccupied with killing,
it does the job awkwardly,
without system or skill.
As though each of us were its first kill.
Oh, it has its triumphs,
but look at its countless defeats,
missed blows,
and repeat attempts!
Sometimes it isn't strong enough
to swat a fly from the air.
Many are the caterpillars
that have outcrawled it.
All those bulbs, pods,
tentacles, fins, tracheae,
nuptial plumage, and winter fur
show that it has fallen behind
with its halfhearted work.
Ill will won't help
and even our lending a hand with wars and coups d'etat
is so far not enough.
Hearts beat inside eggs.
Babies' skeletons grow.
Seeds, hard at work, sprout their first tiny pair of leaves
and sometimes even tall trees fall away.
Whoever claims that it's omnipotent
is himself living proof
that it's not.
There's no life
that couldn't be immortal
if only for a moment.
Death
always arrives by that very moment too late.
In vain it tugs at the knob
of the invisible door.
As far as you've come
can't be undone.
On death without exaggeration was produced by Clare Cavanagh & Stanisław Barańczak.