Subscribe: by Email | in Reader

On Death, without Exaggeration -- Wislawa Szymborska

Guest poem sent in by Lakshmi Jagad
(Poem #1911) On Death, without Exaggeration
 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.
-- Wislawa Szymborska
One of my blog friends lost one of her grandparents and posted this poem on
her blog. This is a lovely poem indeed with none of the morbidity usually
associated with death. There are some cute images (I can imagine a
caterpillar furiously crawling away as a huge thud narrowly misses stomping
it to death!), some comic instances (Imagine Dark Death desperately trying
to swat a fly!) and there are awe-inspiring lines as well, about how Death
defies all logic by felling giant trees and leaving babies untouched. Yes,
this is one more of those mysteries we learn to live with...

My favourite lines are 'There's no life that couldn't be immortal if only
for a moment'.  Makes me feel as if we are immortal every moment and if we
could learn to treat each moment as a lifetime, how different our lives
would be!

To borrow from a line of a song in one of the popular Hindi films,
'Aane waala pal jaane waala hain,
Ho sake to is mein zindagi bitaa do,
Pal jo yeh jaane waala hain..
(The moment that is to arrive will soon depart,
If you can, lead your entire life in that moment,
this moment will soon depart as well)

Lakshmi

[Links]

Wislawa Szymborska (1923-), Polish poet, essayist and translator. Nobel
laureate (Literature, 1996)

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wis%C5%82awa_Szymborska

45 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

Anonymous said...

Can you angel what are the ED Hardy
outlive or the accoutrements aloft attending like, you can see ED Hardy Shoes
actuality and there abnormally all over the world. If you're planning to accept a ED Hardy Shoes
as a allowance for your families and friends, you can aswell acquirement online, just amuse appointment the hardy shirt
online store.

Anonymous said...

Hello what do you think about this poem?

Strange to me now are the forms I meet

When I visit the dear old town;
But the native air is pure and sweet,
And the trees that overshadow each well-known street,
As they balance up and down with Viagra Online,
Are singing the beautiful song,
Are sighing and whispering still:
'A boy's will is the wind's will,

My mom wrote the verse , and then I just did the rest...

หนังโป๊ออนไลน์ said...

Thanks for the great trip we will be monitoring your next job.

หนังโป๊ออนไลน์ said...

Spec really good websites. We provide you with a good article that came out again.

หนังโป๊ออนไลน์ said...

A very good article. Asked personnel at webmaster at Changi as well, do not take the article to receive

ภาพโป๊ said...

A very good article. Asked personnel at webmaster at Changi as well, do not take the article to receive

หนังโป๊ออนไลน์ said...

A very good article. Asked personnel at webmaster at Changi as well, do not take the article to receive

หนังโป๊ออนไลน์ said...

A very good article. Asked personnel at webmaster at Changi as well, do not take the article to receive

Ideas de negocios said...

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, but I am firmly convinced of this and love to learn more about the subject. If possible, acquire knowledge, would you update your blog with more information? It is very helpful to me

Download Mozilla Firefox Terbaru said...

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, but I am firmly convinced of this and love to learn more about the subject. If possible, acquire knowledge, would you update your blog with more information? It is very helpful to my site pusber. But i think so.. it's really good...

free simple tutorial tips trick seo said...

article highly qualified friend .., thanks for sharing information, if interested please visit my blogs there is a lot of articles that may be read friend, Main thing is that you need to seo work If do seo for my blog http://variasiblogger.blogspot.com/ as my blog have 2000+ visitor and I want 15000

Unknown said...

JSolusi yang tepat untuk mengobati penyakit wasir tanpa harus operasi, menggunakan obat wasir  Paling ampuh dari De Nature dan terbaik ada hanya di http://obatwasirme.blogspot.com untuk mendapatkan informasi yang lebih jelas mengenai pengobatan wasir silahkan kontak langsung di nomer 0852 808 77 999 atau 0859 7373 5656 Bagaimana mengobati Ambeien itu sendiri. pengobatan yang terbaik untuk Ambeien adalah dari luar dan dalam sehingga Ambeien benar benar tuntas dan tidak akan kambuh lagi. obat Ambeien terbaik "Ambeclear dari De Nature" Adalah obat Ambeien herbal yang memang terbaik untuk mengobati Ambeien, dan sudah terdaftar di badan obat dan makanan (BPOM) dengan nomer registrasi POM TR: 133 374 041. terbuat dari bahan alami antara lain terdiri Daung Ungu, Mahkota Dewa dan Kunyit Putih.

Anonymous said...

Penyakit ini umumnya muncul karena penderita mengejan terlalu keras pada saat buang air besar. Dengan mengejan terlalu keras, maka pembuluh darah di sekitar anus dapat melebar dan pecah menimbulkan infeksi dan pembengkakan yang berakhir pada masalah wasir atau ambeien tersebut.

Unknown said...

Kutil pada alat kelamin luar bisa diangkat melalui laser, krioterapi (pembekuan) atau pembedahan dengan bius lokal. Pengobatan kimiawi, seperti podofilum resin atau racun yang dimurnikan atau asam trikloroasetat, bisa dioleskan langsung pada kutil. Tetapi pengobatan ini memerlukan waktu beberapa minggu sampai beberapa bulan, bisa melukai kulit di sekelilingnya dan sering gatal.

Unknown said...

Kutil dalam istilah medis disebut Papilloma. Papilloma itu sebenarnya
sejenis tumor jinak pada kulit, berasal dari penebalan lapisan luar
kulit yang berlebihan. Bentuk kutil ini bisa bermacam-macam.

rs7 sports app said...

Excellent article! A true poetic masterpiece. Kindly check on my sites as well:
rs7 sports,
rs7 sports login,

Post a Comment