New and Collected Poems 1931-2001

Introduction by Czeslaw Milosz
xxiii
A POEM ON FROZEN TIME
{Poemat o czasie zastyglym, 1933)
Artificer
3
THREE WINTERS
5
{Trzy zimy, 1936)
The Song 7
The Gates of the Arsenal
Hymn 1]
Dawns 16
Slow River 18
Statue of a Couple 21
RESCUE
23
{Ocalenie, 1945)
Ballad of Levallois 25
Encounter 27
A Book in the Ruins 28
Day of Generation 31
Campo dei Fiori 33
The World 36
The Road
The Gate
The Porch
The Dining Room
The Stairs
Pictures
Father in the Library
10
Father\'s Incantations
From the Window
Father Explains
A Parable of the Poppy
By the Peonies
Faith
Hope
Love
The Excursion to the Forest
The Bird Kingdom
Fear
Recovery
The Sun
Voices of Poor People 56
A Song on the End of the World
Song of a Citizen
The Poor Poet
Cafe
A Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto
Outskirts
Songs of Adrian Zielinski 67
Farewell 72
Flight 74
In Warsaw 75
Dedication 77
DAYLIGHT
79
{Swiatlo dzienne, 1953)
Song on Porcelain 81
Child of Europe 83
Mid-Twentieth-Century Portrait
A Nation 89
(viii
CONTENTS
88
Birth 91
A Family 93
Ocean 95
The Journey 96
The Spirit of the Laws 97
A Legend 99
Earth 102
You Who Wronged 103
Mittelbergheim 104
A TREATISE ON POETRY
107
(Traktat poetycki, 1957)
Preface 109
I. Beautiful Times lll
II. The Capital 116
III. The Spirit of History
IV. Natura 140
Ode 148
127
KING POPIEL AN D OTHER POEMS
153
(Krol Popiel i inne wiersze, 1962)
King Popiel 155
Magpiety 156
Lessons 157
No More 158
Ode to a Bird 159
Happiness 161
What Once Was Great 162
Should, Should Not 163
What Does It Mean 164
Heraclitus 165
CONTENTS
ix ]
Greek Portrait 166
The Master 167
A Frivolous Conversation 169
In Milan 170
From the Chronicles of the Town of Pornic
Bluebeard\'s Castle
The Owners
Vandeans
Our Lady of Recovery
Album of Dreams 175
Far West 181
Throughout Our Lands 182
BOBO\'S METAMORPHOSIS
189
(Gu cio zaczarowany, 1965)
It Was Winter 191
Bobo\'s Metamorphosis 193
Rivers Grow Small 198
They Will Place There Telescreens 199
On the Other Side 200
And the City Stood in Its Brightness 201
Those Corridors 202
Three Talks on Civilization 203
Sentences 206
I Sleep a Lot 207
Dithyramb 209
CITY WITHOUT A NAME
(Miasto bez imienia, 1969)
The Year 213
City Without a Name
(x
CONTENTS
214
211
171
When the Moon 222
Veni Creator 223
Window 224
With Trumpets and Zithers 225
How It Was 232
On the Road 234
Whiteness 235
Thesis and Counter-Thesis 236
Counsels 237
Incantation 239
Ars Poetica? 240
Higher Arguments in Favor of Discipline Derived from the
Speech Before the Council of the Universal State in 2068
Island 244
My Faithful Mother Tongue 245
UNCOLLECTE D POEMS
242
247
1954-1969
Esse 249
A Mistake 250
How Ugly 251
To Robinson Jeffers
To Raja Rao 254
252
FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN
257
(Gdzie wschodzi s1once i k�dy zapada, 1974)
A Task 259
An Hour 260
A Story 261
Readings 262
Oeconomia Divina
263
CONTENTS
Xi ]
Tidings 264
L\'Acceleration de l\'Histoire 265
Elegy for N. N. 266
An Appeal 268
Calling to Order 271
Not This Way 273
So Little 274
On Angels 275
Seasons 276
Gift 277
From the Rising of the Sun 278
I. The Unveiling
II. Diary of a Naturalist
III. Lauda
IV. Over Cities
V. A Short Recess
VI. The Accuser
VII. Bells in Winter
HYMN OF THE PEARL
(Hymn o perle, 1981)
A Magic Mountain 335
The View 337
Caesarea 338
Study of Loneliness 339
A Felicitous Life 340
The Fall 341
Temptation 342
Secretaries 343
Proof 344
Amazement 345
Idea 346
( xii
CONTENTS
333
Filina 347
Reading the Japanese Poet Issa (1762-1826)
Notes 351
Before Majesty 355
A Poetic State 356
Distance 357
When After a Long Life 358
On Pilgrimage 359
Early Morning 360
A Portal 361
The Separate Notebooks 362
A Mirrored Gallery
Pages Concerning the Years
of Independence
The Wormwood Star
Bypassing Rue Descartes 393
Account 395
Rivers 396
UNATTAINABLE EARTH
349
399
(Nieobj�ta ziemia, 1986)
The Garden of Earthly Delights
1. Summer
2. A Ball
3. Paradise
4. Earth
5. Earth Again
After Paradise 407
The Hooks of a Corset 408
Annalena 414
Yellow Bicycle 415
Into the Tree 416
401
CONTENTS
xiii j
One More Day 418
Winter 420
A Boy 422
In Salem 423
1913 424
At Dawn 425
At Noon 426
Return to Krakow in 188o 427
The City 428
Preparation 429
\"With not-quite truth
.\" 430
Consciousness 431
On Prayer 435
Father Ch., Many Years Later 436
Initiation 441
Elegy for Y. Z. 442
Anka 444
Theodicy 445
Table I 446
Table II 447
My-ness 448
Thankfulness 449
Poet at Seventy 450
\"To find my home . .\" 452
.
.
.
NEW POEMS
453
1985-1987
A Portrait with a Cat 455
Mary Magdalen and I 456
A Skull 457
In a Jar 458
All Hallows\' Eve 459
( xiv
CONTENTS
This Only 46o
A Confession 461
For Jan Lebenstein 462
With Her 463
Old Women 464
How It Should Be in Heaven 465
Caffe Greco 466
And Yet the Books 468
On Parting with My Wife, Janina 469
Powers 471
La Belle Epoque 473
The Trans-Siberian Railway
Beyond the Urals
First Performance
The Northern Route
Revolutionaries
A Parisian Scene
The Titanic
Fear-Dream (1918) 487
In a Buggy at Dusk 488
1945 490
Six Lectures in Verse 491
PROVINCES
501
(Oalsze okolice, 1991)
Blacksmith Shop 503
Adam and Eve 504
Evening 505
Creating the World 506
Linnaeus 508
In Music 510
Incarnated 511
CONTENTS
XV]
Mister Hanusevich 512
Philology 514
And Yet 515
At Yale 516
Beinecke Library 523
The Thistle, the Nettle 524
Reconciliation 525
Abode 526
A New Province 527
Reading the Notebook of
Anna Karnienska 531
Youth 532
In Conunon 534
A Photograph 535
Lastingness 539
Either-Or 540
Two Poems 542
Conversation with Jeanne
A Poem for the End of the Century
Spider 548
Far Away 550
Inheritor 556
Gathering Apricots 557
Meditation 558
On a Beach 559
Return 562
***
564
Good Night 565
December 1 566
Dante 567
Meaning 569
Kazia 570
A Philosopher\'s Home 572
( xvi
CONTENTS
FACING THE RIVER
577
(Na brzegu rzeki, 1995)
At a Certain Age 579
A Lecture 580
Why 583
Capri 585
Report 589
Lithuania, Mter Fifty-two Years 591
A Goddess
The Manor
A Certain Neighborhood
A Naiad
Who?
City of My Youth 596
A Meadow 597
Translating Anna Swir on an Island of the Caribbean
To My Daimonion 6oo
The Wall of a Museum 603
Biography of an Artist 6o4
The Garden of Earthly Delights: Hell 605
Realism 6o6
One More Contradiction 607
Woe! 6o8
Pierson College 6o9
Sarajevo 610
To Allen Ginsberg 611
A Human Fly 614
House in Krasnogruda 615
A Polka-dot Dress 616
Plato\'s Dialogues 618
Undressing Justine 619
Retired 625
598
CONTENTS
xvii j
�wanda 627
To Mrs. Professor in Defense of My Cat\'s Honor
and Not Only 631
You Whose Name 633
This World 634
Happenings Elsewhere 635
A Hall 637
After Enduring 638
Body 639
In Szetejnie 640
ROA D-SI DE DOG
643
(Piesek przydrozny, 1998)
Road-side Dog 645
Pelicans 646
A Ball 647
Watering Can 648
From My Dentist\'s Window
Autunm 650
Helene 651
Helene\'s Religion 652
Yokimura 653
America 655
Christopher Robin 656
Rivers 657
THIS
659
(To, 2000)
This 663
To a Hazel Tree
( xviii
CONTENTS
665
649
I Do Not Understand 667
My Grandfather Sigismund Kunat
Lake 671
After Traveling 672
The Head 673
Forget 674
In a City 675
668
II
An Honest Description of Myself with a Glass
of Whiskey at an Airport, Let Us Say,
in Minneapolis 679
For My Eighty-eighth Birthday 68o
A Run 681
By a Stream 682
0! 683
0! (Gustav Klimt) 684
0! (Salvator Rosa) 685
0! (Edward Hopper) 686
Wherever 687
Voyeur 688
So-called Life 689
Prescription 690
In Black Despair 691
Example 692
Awakened 693
Submerged 694
Vipera Berus 695
Texas 696
Craftsman 697
You, Vanquished 698
Specimens 699
The Year 1900 700
CONTENTS
xix)
Obviously 701
My Secrets 702
If 703
III
Zone of Silence 707
Selecting lwaszkiewicz\'s Poems for an
Evening of His Poetry at the
National Theater in Warsaw 708
Ode for the Eightieth Birthday of Pope John Paul II 709
What I Learned from Jeanne Hersch 711
Opposed to Each Other 713
Zdziechowski 714
Against the Poetry of Philip Larkin 718
On the Death of a Poet 719
On the Inequality of Men 720
Aleksander Wat\'s Tie 721
To Robert Lowell 722
Pastels by Degas 723
On Poetry, Upon the Occasion of Many Telephone Calls After
Zbigniew Herbert\'s Death 724
Unde Malum 726
Rozewicz 727
IV
Gardener 731
One and Many 733
An Alcoholic Enters the Gates of Heaven
The Rite 736
Persons 738
In a Parish 741
Prayer 742
(XX
CONTENTS
734
Mter 744
Rays of Dazzling Light
Late Ripeness
745
747
Notes 749
Index of Poems and Translators
771