She is sixty. She lives
the greatest love of her life.
She walks arm-in-arm with her dear one,
...
She was an evil stepmother.
In her old age she is slowly dying
in an empty hovel.
...
You will not tame this sea
either by humility or rapture.
But you can laugh
in its face.
...
Great humility fills me,
great purity fills me,
I make love with my dear
...
The Greatest Love
She is sixty. She lives
the greatest love of her life.
She walks arm-in-arm with her dear one,
her hair streams in the wind.
Her dear one says:
"You have hair like pearls."
Her children say:
"Old fool."
Translated from the Polish by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan
Anonymous Submission