Zbigniew Herbert

I Would Like to Describe

I would like to describe

the simplest emotion

joy or sadness

but not as others do

reaching for shafts of rain or sun

I would like to describe

a light which is being born in me

but I know it does not resemble

any star for it is

not so bright not so pure

and is uncertain

I would like to describe courage

without dragging behind me

a dusty lion and also anxiety

without shaking a glass full of water

to put it another way

I would give all metaphors

in return for one word

drawn out of my breast

like a rib

for one word contained

within the boundaries of my skin

but apparently this is not possible

and just to say -- I love

I run around like mad

picking up handfuls of birds

and my tenderness

which after all is not made of water

asks the water for a face

and anger different from fire

borrows from it a loquacious tongue

so is blurred

so is blurred in me

what white-haired gentleman

separated once and for all and said

this in the subject

this is the object

we fall asleep with one hand

under our head

and with the other

in a mound of planets

our feet abandon us

and taste the earth

with their tiny roots

which next morning

we tear out painfully