Today POTW takes us to Poland, to Anna Świrszczyńska, an amazing woman who lived through tough times (1909-1984). She was a member of the Polish Resistance in WWII and saw some pretty full-on stuff, and all that influences her poetry. Poets are philosophers more than any other type of artist, and Swir certainly reveals that in this short poem about the sea; also about the exciting brevity of life: a burst of laughter. There is joy to be found in our human ability to live simply in the now.
The Sea and the Man
by Anna Swir
You will not tame this sea
either by humility or rapture.
But you can laugh
in its face.
Laughter
was invented by those
who live briefly
as a burst of laughter.
The eternal sea
will never learn to laugh.
Translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan.
From Talking to My Body (c) 1996 Copper Canyon Press.
New Beginnings
7 years ago
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