#WITMonth - Two Poems

As I began this blog, I wanted to dedicate a day for sharing the poems that I loved. I decided it for Saturday. There is no special reason to choose Saturday other than an impulsive decision. It was a Saturday that I began this blog.

And this month (August) being the Women in Translation Month, I found it irresistible to share some poms written by women from across the globe.

I have already shared a poem of Wislawa Szymborska (Polish poet) in my blog as the Saturday poem. for this week.

Here are other two poems. One is by a Russian and the other is by a Polish.

I KNOW THE TRUTH by Marina Tsvetaeva 

I know the truth — give up all other truths!
No need for people anywhere on earth to struggle.
Look — it is evening, look, it is nearly night:
what do you speak of, poets, lovers, generals?

The wind is level now, the earth is wet with dew,
the storm of stars in the sky will turn to quiet.
And soon all of us will sleep under the earth, we
who never let each other sleep above it.

Translated from Russian by Elaine Feinstein.


MYSELF AND MY PERSON by Anna Swir

There are moments
when I feel more clearly than ever
that I am in the company
of my own person.
This comforts and reassures me,
this heartens me,
just as my tridimensional body
is heartened by my own authentic shadow.

There are moments
when I really feel more clearly than ever
that I am in the company
of my own person.

I stop
at a street corner to turn left
and I wonder what would happen
if my own person walked to the right.

Until now that has not happened
but it does not settle the question.

Translated from Polish by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan.

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