In honor of National Poetry Month, we offer you a poem by the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, translated by Milosz and MJC English professor emeritus, poet, and activist Lillian Vallee. Vallee, who was Milosz's translator, has received numerous prizes and awards for her translation work. A collection of Milosz's poems on which they collaborated, Bells in Winter, won the Nobel prize in 1980.
We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.
And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.
That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.
O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.
Wilno, 1936
"Encounter" from The Collected Poems 1931-1987 by Czeslaw Milosz.
The MJC Library & Learning Centers also has a great guide with ideas to help celebrate National Poetry Month.
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