Four in the Morning by Wislawa Szymborska
Four in the Morning
Wislawa Szymborska
Translated by Magnus J. Krynski, Robert A. MaguireThe hour from night to day.
The hour from side to side.
The hour for those past thirty.The hour swept clean to the crowing of cocks.
The hour when earth betrays us.
The hour when wind blows from extinguished stars.
The hour of and-what-if-nothing-remains-after-us.The hollow hour.
Blank, empty.
The very pit of all other hours.No one feels good at four in the morning.
If ants feel good at four in the morning
–three cheers for the ants. And let five o’clock come
if we’re to go on living.
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SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts: Seventy Poems by Wislawa Szymborska, published by Princeton University Press, 1981. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“From Nobel Prize–winning poet Wisława Szymborska, a dazzling bilingual collection of verse that reveals her signature themes and techniques
Sounds, Feelings, and Thoughts is a superb introduction to the work of Nobel Prize–winning poet Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012), who is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets since World War II. Carefully selected and skillfully translated by Magnus Krynski and Robert Maguire, this book presents a broad and representative selection of Szymborska’s poetry and features the original Polish poems on pages facing the English translations. The book demonstrates the hallmarks of Szymborska’s verse—high seriousness, delightful inventiveness, a prodigal imagination, and enormous technical skill. Writing of the diversity, plenitude, and richness of the world, she takes delight in observing and naming its phenomena, looking on with wonder, astonishment, and amusement.” (Source)
ABOUT WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA
Wisława Szymborska was born on July 2, 1923, in Bnin, a small town in western Poland. Her family moved to Krakow in 1931 where she lived most of her life. She studied Polish literature and sociology at Jagellonian University from 1945 until 1948. During her lifetime, Szymborska authored nearly twenty books of poetry. Her collections available in English include Monologue of a Dog (Harcourt, 2005); Miracle Fair: Selected Poems of Wisława Szymborska (W. W. Norton, 2001); Poems, New… (more)
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ENDNOTES
- Read more translations by Magnus J. Krynski, Robert A. Maguire • Or view more translated poems
- Explore other works in pursuit of: midnight • isolation • existentialism • Or browse the index
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