A CHANCE
Silence will cover everything, epochs will be mixed up.
We know this and stubbornly dig the tunnel of dates
in the rock of eternity. We think we can make it
Even if nearby others have ended their work buried
In rubble. We put the secrets of our bodies
In graves believing they will resurrect
On the other side. We cling to words
For we think they will calm our fear,
And lead us to light.AFTER ALL
Now, after all is over,
We begin a normal life.
Historians will count the dead.Facts will be more or less true
To life.
Leszek Szaruga, b. 1946 is a poet, writer, translator (from Russian and German) and literary historian. During 1970s and 1980s he was active in underground culture in Poland; he presently teaches literature at Warsaw University. His recent publications include a novel Zdjęcie (“A Snapshot”, 2009,) a volume of essays on the Kultura centre in Paris (2011,) and a collection of aphorisms Kanibale lubią ludzi (“Cannibals Like People,” 2012).
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