PIERWSZA MIŁOŚĆ
Mówią, że pierwsza miłość najważniejsza, To bardzo romantyczne, ale nie mój przypadek. Coś między nami było i nie było, działo się i podziało. Nie drżą mi ręce, kiedy natrafiam na drobne pamiątki i zwitek listów przewiązanych sznureczkiem -żeby chociaż wstążeczką. Nasze jedyne spotkanie po latach to rozmowa dwóch krzeseł przy zimnym stoliku. Inne miłości głęboko do tej pory oddychają we mnie. Tu brak tchu, żeby westchnąć. A jednak właśnie taka, jaka jest, potrafi, czego tamte nie potrafią jeszcze: niepamiętana, nie śniąca się nawet, oswaja mnie ze śmiercią. |
FIRST LOVE
They say the first love's most important. That's very romantic, but not my experience. Something was and wasn't there between us, something went on and went away. My hands never tremble when I stumble on silly keepsakes and a sheaf of letters tied with string — not even ribbon. Our only meeting after years: two chairs chatting at a chilly table. Other loves still breathe deep inside me. This one's too short of breath even to sigh. Yet just exactly as it is, it does what the others still can't manage: unremembered, not even seen in dreams, it introduces me to death. [Wislawa Szymborska Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak] |
FIRST LOVE
They say your first love is always the one. That's very romantic, but not in my experience. Something between us was, then wasn't there, happened, then happened to get lost. My hands never shake when I stumble upon small keepsakes or that sheaf of our letters, tied with string - if only it were ribbon. Our only meeting, years later, a conversation between two chairs set at an empty table. Other loves breathe deep within me still. That first too exhausted to even sigh. And yet, being what it is, it does something the others yet can't: unremembered, not even dreamt of, it makes death my familiar. [Wislawa Szymborska Translated from the Polish by by Marek Kazmierski] |