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“About Troy” by Zbigniew Herbert 🇵🇱 (29 Oct 1924 – 28 Jul 1998)
Translated from the Polish
1.
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Troy O Troy
an archeologist
will sift your ashes through his fingers
yet a fire occurred greater than that of the Iliad
for seven strings—
​
too few strings
one needs a chorus
a sea of laments
and thunder of mountains
rain of stone
​
—how to lead
people away from the ruins
how to lead
the chorus from poems—
​
thinks the faultless poet
respectably mute
as a pillar of salt
—The song will escape unharmed
It escaped
with flaming wing
into a pure sky
​
The moon rises over the ruins
Troy O Troy
The city is silent
​
The poet struggles with his own shadow
The poet cries like a bird in the void
​
The moon repeats its landscape
gentle metal in smoldering ash
​
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2.
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They walked along ravines of former streets
as if on a red sea of cinders
​
and wind lifted the red dust
faithfully painted the sunset of the city
​
They walked along ravines of former streets
they breathed on the frozen dawn in vain
​
they said: long years will pass
before the first house stands here
​
they walked along ravines of former streets
they thought they would find some traces
​
a cripple plays
on a harmonica
about the braids of a willow
about a girl
​
the poet is silent
rain falls