Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski
Try to Praise the Mutilated World
Adam Zagajewski
Translated by Clare CavanaghTry to praise the mutilated world.
Remember June’s long days,
and wild strawberries, drops of rosé wine.
The nettles that methodically overgrow
the abandoned homesteads of exiles.
You must praise the mutilated world.
You watched the stylish yachts and ships;
one of them had a long trip ahead of it,
while salty oblivion awaited others.
You’ve seen the refugees heading nowhere,
you’ve heard the executioners sing joyfully.
You should praise the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth’s scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.
MARGINALIA
I remember how this poem was passed around from person to person during 9/11. It was profoundly moving and apt (it still is), and I remember how thankful I was that poetry exists (I still am).
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Without End: New and Selected Poems by Adam Zagajewski, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT ADAM ZAGAJEWSKI
Adam Zagajewski was born in Lvov, Poland, in 1945; as an infant he was relocated with his family to western Poland. He lived in Berlin for a couple of years, moved to France in 1982, and taught at universities in the United States, including the University of Houston and the University of Chicago. Zagajewski wrote in Polish, but many of his books of poetry and essays have been translated into English. His prose collections include Two Cities: On Exile, History and the Imagination (1995)… (more)
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ENDNOTES
- Read more translations by Clare Cavanagh • Discover more poems in English • Or view more translated poems
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