The Wall
We are standing under the wall. Our
youth has been taken off like a shirt from
the condemned men. We wait. Before the
fat bullet will sit down on the nape of the
neck, ten, twenty years pass. The wall is
high and strong. Behind the wall is a tree
and a star. The tree pries at the wall with
its roots. The star nibbles the stone like a
mouse. In a hundred, two hundred years
there will already be a small window.
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Herbert, Zbigniew.
Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998) a Polish poet and essayist,
is known
for his ironic and formally-accomplished verse and use of
classical and historical allusions. Herbert began writing at the
age of 17, but did not begin seriously publishing until 1956 when
he published the collection Struna swiatla (Chord of Light),
followed by Hermes, pies i gwiazda (Hermes, a Dog and a Star,
1957), Studium przedmiotu (A Study of the Object, 1961) and
Elegia na odejscie (Elegy for an Exit, 1990). Herbert has also
written essays on art, classical myth, and history.
(Information taken from www.daytips.com)