Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Funny, Anna Kamienska

Funny
 
What's it like to be a human 
the bird asked
 
I myself don't know
it's being held prisoner by your skin 
while reaching infinity 
being a captive of your scrap of time 
while touching eternity 
being hopelessly uncertain 
and helplessly hopeful
being a needle of frost 
and a handful of heat 
breathing in the air 
and choking wordlessly 
it's being on fire 
with a nest made of ashes 
eating bread 
while filling up on hunger
it's dying without love 
it's loving through death
 
That's funny said the bird
and flew effortlessly up into the air
 
~ Anna Kamienska ~
 
(Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamienska,
 ed. and trans. by D. Curzon and G. Drabik)

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