Zbigniew Herbert

II can't find the titleof a memory about youwith a hand torn from darknessI step on fragments of facessoft friendly profilesfrozen into a hard contourcircling above my headempty as a forehead of aira man's silhouette of…

During his great speech the prosecutor kept piercing me with his yellow index finger I'm afraid I didn't appear self-assured unintentionally I put on a mask of fear and depravity like a rat caught in a trap an informer a fratricide the reporters…

Lucky Saint George from his knight's saddle could exactly evaluate the strength and movements of the dragon the first principle of strategy is to assess the enemy accurately Mr Cogito is in a worse position he sits in the low saddle of a valley…

In paradise the work week is fixed at thirty hours salaries are higher prices steadily go down manual labour is not tiring (because of reduced gravity) chopping wood is no harder than typing the social system is stable and the rulers are wise…

Go where those others went to the dark boundaryfor the golden fleece of nothingness your last prizego upright among those who are on their kneesamong those with their backs turned and those toppled in the dustyou were saved not in order to…

nothing specialboards paintnails pastepaper stringmr artistbuilds a worldnot from atomsbut from remnantsforest of ardenfrom umbrellaionian seafrom parkers quinkjust as long ashis look is wisejust as long ashis hand is sure -and presto the world…

We walk by the sea-shore holding firmly in our hands the two ends of an antique dialogue —do you love me? —I love you with furrowed eyebrows I summarize all wisdom of the two testaments astrologers prophets philosophers of the gardens and…

In my sleep it rips throughmy meagre skinthrows off the red bandage of the fleshand goes strolling through the roommy monument a little incompleteone can be prodigalwith tears and bloodwhat will endure here the longestmust be thoughtfully…

Too old to carry arms and fight like the others - they graciously gave me the inferior role of chronicler I record - I don't know for whom - the history of the siege I am supposed to be exact but I don't know when the invasion began two hundred…

Inanimate objects are always correct and cannot, unfortunately, be reproached with anything.
I have never observed a chair shift from one foot to another, or a bed rear on its hind legs.
And tables, even when they are tired, will not…

For lack of a nail the kingdom has fallen —according to the wisdom of nursery schools—but in our kingdom there have been no nails for a long time there aren’t and won’t be either the small ones for hanging a picture on a wall or large ones for…

When the honey, fruit and flowery tablecloth were whisked from the table in one sweep, it flew of with a start.
Entangled in the suffocating smoke of the curtains, it buzzed for a long time.
At last it reached the window.
It beat…

Of course those who are standing at the top of the stairs know they know everything with us it's different sweepers of squares hostages of a better future those at the top of the stairs appear to us rarely with a hushing finger always at the…

for C.
M.
Now that we’re alone we can talk prince man to man though you lie on the stairs and see no more than a dead ant nothing but black sun with broken rays I could never think of your hands without smiling and now that they lie on…

A home above the year's seasonshome of children animals and applesa square of empty spaceunder an absent starhome was the telescope of childhoodthe skin of emotiona sister's cheekbranch of a treethe cheek was extinguished by flamethe branch…

—for perfidious protectorsI was playing in the street no one paid attention to me as I made forms out of sand mumbling Rimbaud under my breath once an elderly gentleman overheard it —little boy you are a poet just now we are organizing a…

1in the fourth book of the Peloponnesian
Thucydides tells among other thingsthe story of his unsuccessful expeditionamong long speeches of chiefsbattles sieges plaguedense net of intrigues of diplomatic endeavoursthe episode is like a pinin…

Those who sailed at dawnbut will never returnleft their trace on a wave—a shell fell to the bottom of the seabeautiful as lips turned to stonethose who walked on a sandy roadbut could not reach the shuttered windowsthough they already saw the…

To the memory of my
And now she has over her head brown clouds of rootsa slim lily of salt on the temples beads of sandwhile she sails on the bottle of a boat through foaming nebulasA mile beyond us where the river turnsvisible-invisible as…

Permit me to open by expressing joy and wonder that we're marching at the head of our companies in different uniforms under a different command but with a single aim—to survive You say to me—look here we should probably let these boys go home to…

The pebbleis a perfect creatureequal to itselfmindful of its limitsfilled exactlywith a pebbly meaningwith a scent that does not remind one of anythingdoes not frighten anything away does not arouse desireits ardour and coldnessare just and full…

Mr Cogito never trustedtricks of the imaginationthe piano at the top of the Alpsplayed false concerts for himhe didn't appreciate labyrinthsthe Sphinx filled him with loathinghe lived in a house with no basementwithout mirrors or…

to
So first the faithful dog will go and after it a pig or ass through the black grass will beat a track along it will the first man steal who with iron hand will smother on his glass brow a drop of fear so first the dog honest mongrel which…

A crevice! shouts the Emperor in his sleep, and the canopy of ostrich plumes trembles.
The soldiers who pace the corridors with unsheathed swords believe the Emperor dreams about a siege.
Just now he saw a fissure in the wall and wants…