Posts tagged zbigniew herbert.

Destroy me star
-says the poet-
pierce me with distance’s arrow

Drink me source
-says the drinker-
to the dregs drink me to nullity

Let sharp eyes deliver me
to devouring landscapes

Words meant to save the body
may they bring me precipices

A star will sink its root in my forehead
the source will lend my face humanity
and you’ll awaken silent
in the palms of stillness
at the heart of the thing.

Zbigniew Herbert, ‘Lines of a Pantheist’.

#zbigniew herbert  #lines of a pantheist  #pantheism  #poetry  
∞  September 04, 2012
24 notes

The poet imitates the voices of birds.

Zbigniew Herbert, trans. Alissa Valles.

#poet  #voices  #birds  #zbigniew herbert  
∞  December 06, 2011
1 note

From a black stump a heavy body
A branch will sprout a white breath
To bring an atom of all our dreams
Back into communion with the air.

Zbigniew Herbert, trans. Alissa Valles.

#zbigniew herbert  #black  #heavy  #white  #breath  #dreams  
∞  November 15, 2011
11 notes

The priests lead the peasants out onto an elevated plain. They plant them in even rows like potatoes, amid fermented hills, on a gentle slope. The linden trees dress up and scatter their leaves. The peasants want to lead the priests out into the field. The priests defend themselves with little white hands. They loathe this heathen sowing. He who has returned to dust shouldn’t start blossoming.

Zbigniew Herbert, trans. Alissa Valles.

#blossoming  #dust  #field  #heathen  #peasants  #priests  #sowing  #zbigniew herbert  
∞  October 14, 2011
72 notes

Eyelids fell like leaves the tenderness of glances crumbled
the stifled throats of springs still trembled under the earth
finally the bird’s voice fell silent.

Zbigniew Herbert, Winter Garden.

#zbigniew herbert  #winter  #garden  #tenderness  #earth  #silent  
∞  September 22, 2011
25 notes


Her burning look holds me fast as if in an embrace. She utters words mixed up with dreams …You will be happy if you believe and hitch your wagon to a star. She is gentle when breast-feeding the clouds; but when calm abandons her, she runs along the seashore and waves her arms in the air.

Zbigniew Herbert, trans. Alissa Valles.

#zbigniew herbert  #madwoman  #dreams  #embrace  
∞  September 06, 2011
17 notes
via fuckyeahpolishpoets


I know
her bird-like head
white arms
and belly.

Zbigniew Herbert, trans. Czeslaw Milosz.

#zbigniew herbert  #bird-like  #belly  #white  
∞  April 25, 2011
1 note