Anna Swir
She Came to Say Farewell
On the day after her death
mother came
to say farewell to me.
At night I heard
her steps nearing my bed
step
by step. She stopped
by my head.
I said: Mommy,
do not appear, Mommy,
my heart will burst
from fear.
No more than that
I said to her
by way of farewell.
Polish; trans. Czeslaw Milosz
& Leonard Nathan
Anna Swir, Polish, trans. Czeslaw Milosz &
Leonard Nathan, Talking to My Body,
Copper Canyon Press, 1996.