Wislawa Szymborska Poems

When I pronounce the word Future,
the first syllable already belongs to the past.
When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.
...

They say
the first love is the most important.
That's very romantic
...

We are children of our age,
it's a political age.
All day long, all through the night,
all affairs--yours, ours, theirs--
...

I’d have to be really quick
to describe clouds -
a split second’s enough
for them to start being something else.
...

Commonplace miracle:
that so many commonplace miracles happen.
An ordinary miracle:
in the dead of night
...

Island where all becomes clear.
Solid ground beneath your feet.
The only roads are those that offer access.
Bushes bend beneath the weight of proofs.
...

A one-sided relationship is developing quite well between you and me.
I know what a leaf, petal, kernel, cone, and stem are,
and I know what happens to you in April and December.
...

There is much I owe
to those I do not love.
The relief in accepting
...

Despite the geologists’ knowledge and craft,
mocking magnets, graphs, and maps—
in a split second the dream
piles before us mountains as stony
...

He came home. Said nothing.
It was clear, though, that something had gone wrong.
He lay down fully dressed.
...