True Love by Wisława Szymborska
True Love
Wisława Szymborska
Translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare CavanaghTrue love. Is it normal
is it serious, is it practical?
What does the world get from two people
who exist in a world of their own?Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason,
drawn randomly from millions but convinced
it had to happen this way – in reward for what?
For nothing.
The light descends from nowhere.
Why on these two and not on others?
Doesn’t this outrage justice? Yes it does.
Doesn’t it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles,
and cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts.Look at the happy couple.
Couldn’t they at least try to hide it,
fake a little depression for their friends’ sake?
Listen to them laughing – it’s an insult.
The language they use – deceptively clear.
And their little celebrations, rituals,
the elaborate mutual routines –
it’s obviously a plot behind the human race’s back!It’s hard even to guess how far things might go
if people start to follow their example.
What could religion and poetry count on?
What would be remembered? What renounced?
Who’d want to stay within bounds?True love. Is it really necessary?
Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence,
like a scandal in Life’s highest circles.
Perfectly good children are born without its help.
It couldn’t populate the planet in a million years,
it comes along so rarely.Let the people who never find true love
keep saying that there’s no such thing.Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die.
endnotes
This poem appeared in View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Wisława Szymborska, translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh, published by Harcourt Brace, 1995. Shared here with profound gratitude.
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I did not think it existed until I found it. Late in life and with another, but I found it. And I marvel that I ever thought I knew what love was before this.
Antoine Cassar
Thank you for this wonderful website, broad curation of poems, and respect for the text.
Please remember to credit the translators.
T.
Thank you, Antoine. Crediting translators is an important endeavour for me, and I appreciate your care for them and desire that they get the recognition they deserve. I wholeheartedly agree with you, which is why I’ve gone back and updated this post. I want to ensure that Read A Little Poetry continues to be a space that duly honours poets as well as their translators.
To note, Read A Little Poetry has grown into a vast collection of hundreds of poems, and it is a passion project that I’ve been cultivating for years. When I started out as a teenager almost two decades ago, I had no idea that it will grow into the resource that it is now. I’m committed to making these changes and giving due credit where it’s deserved, but it’s going to take some time to revise everything. I kindly ask for your patience and understanding as I work through these adjustments.
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T.
Antoine Cassar
Grazzi mill-qalb. I seek random poems almost daily, and will continue to visit often. I admire your dedication and perseverance, bon courage!