Village Landscape
There is silence in the meadows
of former battlefields
the bank of the bug river arranges
shells and bones
at times a wasp's ricochet
shoots from the burdocks
someone was buried here
or somewhere else
and there is no hole in heaven
as there is on earth
. . .
I was unable to save
a single life
I couldn't sleep
a single bullet
so I circle cemeteries
that aren't there
I search for words
that aren't there
I run
to the aid uncalled for
to the rescue delayed
I want to get there on time
even if it's already over
Kazakhstan, USSR
they let us out of the wagons
right here
And nothing anywhere
not a river
to drown in
or a tree
to hang oneself
____________________________
Jerzy Ficowski
Everything I Don't Know
Selected Poems
translated from the Polish by
Jennifer Grotz & Piotr Sommer
World Poetry Books, 2021
