A WOMAN ANNOUNCES THEIR MASTER'S DEATH TO THE BEES / AND TIES A BLACK RIBBON ROUND THE HIVE Poem by Justyna Bargielska

It's incredible what one burst pipe could do.
It's incredible what one man and one woman could do.
The doors close behind the waiter, but they close behind you
just like all doors closing.

I've grieved with the bees over our parting
now I will try to enjoy what occurs before it
right up to the moment when I no longer know
what to do with the time I have left

and so I go to sleep and someone stands over me saying:
snakes sleep like this, curled in a ball like kittens or small children,
see, for this is the position in which you're taken to heaven.

Translation: Maria Jastrzębska