Suddenly A Wonderful New Poem By Adam Zagajewski Appears In Pan Cogito's Oyster

At the Cathedral's Foot
by Adam Zagajewski

In June once, in the evening,
returning from a long trip,
with memories of France's blooming trees
still fresh in our minds,
its yellow fields, green plane trees
sprinting before the car,

we sat on the curb at the cathedral's foot
and spoke softly about disasters,
about what lay ahead, the coming fear,
and someone said this was the best
we could do now-
to talk of darkness in that bright shadow.

Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh

(c) Adam Zagajewski [and Clare Cavanagh]. All rights reserved 2007. Published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Adam Zagajewski is the author, most recently, of A Defense of Ardor: Essays (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Via The New Republic Online.



















Adam Zagajewski

Photo credit: (c) onet.pl and Typgonik Powszechny. All rights reserved. With thanks.