{"id":1223,"date":"2016-03-17T18:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T22:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/?p=1223"},"modified":"2016-03-11T14:28:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T19:28:17","slug":"wislawa-syzmborska-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/2016\/1223\/poems\/wislawa-syzmborska-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Wislawa Syzmborska: Here"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t speak for elsewhere,<\/span>
\n<\/span>but here on Earth we\u2019ve got a fair supply of everything.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Here we manufacture chairs and sorrows,<\/span>
\n<\/span>scissors, tenderness, transistors, violins,<\/span>
\n<\/span>teacups, dams, and quips.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>There may be more of everything elsewhere,<\/span>
\n<\/span>but for reasons left unspecified they lack paintings,<\/span>
\n<\/span>picture tubes, pierogies, handkerchiefs for tears.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Here we have countless places with vicinities.<\/span>
\n<\/span>You may take a liking to some,<\/span>
\n<\/span>give them pet names,<\/span>
\n<\/span>protect them from harm.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>There may be comparable places elsewhere,<\/span>
\n<\/span>but no one thinks they\u2019re beautiful.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Like nowhere else, or almost nowhere,<\/span>
\n<\/span>you\u2019re given your own torso here,<\/span>
\n<\/span>equipped with the accessories required<\/span>
\n<\/span>for adding your own children to the rest.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Not to mention arms, legs, and astounded head.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Ignorance works overtime here,<\/span>
\n<\/span>something is always being counted, compared, measured,<\/span>
\n<\/span>from which roots and conclusions are then drawn.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I know, I know what you\u2019re thinking.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Nothing here can last,<\/span>
\n<\/span>since from and to time immemorial the elements hold sway.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>But see, even the elements grow weary<\/span>
\n<\/span>and sometimes take extended breaks
\n<\/span>before starting up again.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>And I know what you\u2019re thinking next.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Wars, wars, wars.<\/span>
\n<\/span>But there are pauses in between them too.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Attention!\u2014people are evil.<\/span>
\n<\/span>At ease\u2014people are good.<\/span>
\n<\/span>At attention wastelands are created.<\/span>
\n<\/span>At ease houses are constructed in the sweat of brows,<\/span>
\n<\/span>and quickly inhabited.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Life on Earth is quite a bargain.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Dreams, for one, don\u2019t charge admission.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Illusions are costly only when lost.<\/span>
\n<\/span>The body has its own installment plan.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>And as an extra, added feature,<\/span>
\n<\/span>you spin on the planets\u2019 carousel for free,<\/span>
\n<\/span>and with it you hitch a ride on the intergalactic blizzard,<\/span>
\n<\/span>with times so dizzying<\/span>
\n<\/span>that nothing here on Earth can even tremble.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Just take a closer look:<\/span>
\n<\/span>the table stands exactly where it stood,<\/span>
\n<\/span>the piece of paper still lies where it was spread,<\/span>
\n<\/span>through the open window comes a breath of air,<\/span>
\n<\/span>the walls reveal no terrifying cracks<\/span>
\n<\/span>through which nowhere might extinguish you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t speak for elsewhere, but here on Earth we\u2019ve got a fair supply of everything. Here we manufacture chairs and sorrows, scissors, tenderness, transistors, violins, teacups, dams, and quips. There may be more of everything elsewhere, but for reasons left unspecified they lack paintings, picture tubes, pierogies, handkerchiefs for tears. Here we have countless […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-4-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1224,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions\/1224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}