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In Black Despair by Czeslaw Milosz

In Black Despair
Czeslaw Milosz

In grayish doubt and black despair,
I drafted hymns to the earth and the air,
pretending to joy, although I lacked it.
The age had made lament redundant.

So here’s the question — who can answer it —
Was he a brave man or a hypocrite?

MARGINALIA

Whenever I doubt myself, I always remember this poem. Was I brave or was I a hypocrite?

ABOUT CZESLAW MILOSZ

Czesław Miłosz was born to Weronika and Aleksander Milosz on June 30, 1911 in Szetejnie, Lithuania. In 1930 his first poems were published in Alma Mater Vilnenis, a university magazine. In 1931, he cofounded the Polish avant-garde literary group “Zagary”; his first collection of verse appeared in 1933. In 1953, he published The Captive Mind (Alfred A. Knopf) and his novel, The Seizure of Power (Criterion Books, 1955), received the Prix Littéraire European from the Swiss Book… (more)

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ENDNOTES

Comments (1)

  • Liz

    I wonder why he switches to the third person.

    reply

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