1
In Utica
the citizens
don’t want to defend themselves
in town an epidemic broke out
of the instinct of self-preservation
the temple of freedom
has been changed into a flea market
the senate is deliberating
how not to be a senate
the citizens
don’t want to defend themselves
they are attending accelerated courses
on falling to the knees
passively they wait for the enemy
they write obsequious speeches
bury their gold
they sew new flags
innocently white
teach their children to lie
they have opened the gates
through which enters now
a column of sand
aside from that as usual
commerce and copulation
2
Mr Cogito
would like to stand up
to the situation
which means
to look fate
straight in the eyes
like Cato the Younger
see in the Lives
however he doesn’t have
a sword
nor the opportunity
to send his family overseas
therefore he waits like the others
walks back and forth in a sleepless room
despite the advice of the Stoics
he would like to have a body of diamond
and wings
he looks through the window
as the sun of the Republic
is about to set
little remained for him
in fact only
the choice of position
in which he wants to die
the choice of a gesture
choice of a last word
this is why he doesn’t go
to bed
in order to avoid
suffocation in sleep
to the end he would like
to stand up to the situation
fate looks him in the eyes
in the place where there was
his head
Zbigniew Herbert
Translated from the Polish by John and Bogdana Carpenter
Another Poem to Love 