Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts by Wisława Szymborska

Author:Wisława Szymborska
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Taisiei

I tarsier, son of tarsier,

grandson of tarsier and great-grandson,

a tiny little animal, composed of two pupils

and only the most indispensable rest;

miraculously saved from further processing,

no tasty morsel I,

for fur collars there are bigger,

my glands bring no joy,

concerts go on without my gut;

I tarsier

sit alive and well on the finger of a man.

Good morning, lord and master,

what will you give me

for not having to deprive me of anything?

For your magnanimity how will you reward me?

What value will you place on me, valuable and valueless,

for posing for your smiles?

Great lord and master—

great kind lord—

who could bear witness, had there been

no animals unworthy of death?

Perhaps you yourselves?

Why, what you already know of yourselves

is enough for a sleepless night from star to star.

And only those few of us unskinned of fur,

unstripped of bone, unplucked of feather,

respected in our quills, scales, horns, tusks

and whatever else some of us may have

of ingenious albumen,

we are—great lord and master—your dream,

which absolves you for a brief moment.

I tarsier, father and grandfather of tarsier,

a tiny little animal, almost half of something,

which still is a whole no worse than others;

so light that twigs ascend beneath me

and long since could have borne me into heaven,

if time and time again I had not had

to fall like a weight from hearts

alas, so tender;

I tarsier,

know how important it is to be tarsier.

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