When the World Stands Still
It happens very rarely. The earth's axis screeches and comes to
a stop. Everything stands still then: storms, ships and clouds
grazing in the valleys. Everything. Even horses in a meadow
become immobile as if in as unfinished game of chess.
And after a while the world moves on. The ocean swallows
and regurgitates, valleys send off steam and the horses pass
from the black field into the white field. There is also heard
the resounding clash of air against air.
________________
Zbigniew Herbert
Selected Poems
Carcanet 1985
translated from the Polish by Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott
