Nothing Twice
Wislawa Szymborska (translation by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh)
Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive her improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.
Even if there is no one dumber,
if you're the planet's biggest dunce,
you can't repeat the class in summer:
This course is only offered once.
No day copies yesterday,
no two nights will teach what bliss is
in precisely the same way,
with exactly the same kisses.
One day, perhaps, some idle tongue
mentions your name by accident:
I feel as if a rose were flung
into the room, all hue and scent.
The next day, though you're here with me,
I can't help looking at the clock:
A rose? A rose? What could that be?
Is it a flower or a rock?
Why do we treat t he fleeting day
with so much needless fear and sorrow?
It's in its nature not to stay:
Today is always gone tomorrow.
With smiles and kisses, we prefer to
seek accord beneath our star,
although we're (we concur)
just as two drops of water are.
Wislawa Szymborska (translation by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh)
Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive her improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.
Even if there is no one dumber,
if you're the planet's biggest dunce,
you can't repeat the class in summer:
This course is only offered once.
No day copies yesterday,
no two nights will teach what bliss is
in precisely the same way,
with exactly the same kisses.
One day, perhaps, some idle tongue
mentions your name by accident:
I feel as if a rose were flung
into the room, all hue and scent.
The next day, though you're here with me,
I can't help looking at the clock:
A rose? A rose? What could that be?
Is it a flower or a rock?
Why do we treat t he fleeting day
with so much needless fear and sorrow?
It's in its nature not to stay:
Today is always gone tomorrow.
With smiles and kisses, we prefer to
seek accord beneath our star,
although we're (we concur)
just as two drops of water are.
Labels: books, happiness is, poetry
2 Comments:
Hi I am from Poland. I'm very very happy that you put one of Szymborska's poem on your blog :)She is the one of greatest artist in Poland and the whole world- that's my opinion... I didn't know that someone translate her poems into english. Anyway I'm really happy. :)
It's a beautiful poem. Glad you liked the english translation.
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