I Am Panting by Anna Swir
I Am Panting
Anna Swir
Translated by Czeslaw MiloszWHY talk
if one can shout
why walk
if one can run
why live
if one can burn.I am running and screaming from joy
I am running and screaming from despair
I am panting
my lungs work like crazy.Violent feelings
are good, so I have heard, for your health.
ABOUT ANNA SWIR
Anna Swir (Anna Świrszczyńska)was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1909. She was the author of Talking to My Body (Copper Canyon Press, 1996) and Happy as a Dog’s Tail (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985), both translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan. She died in Krakow, Poland, in 1984. (Source)
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