You Whose N ame
You whose name is aggressor and devourer.
Putrid and sultry, in fermentation.
You mash into pulp sages and prophets ,
Criminals and heroes, indifferently.
My
vocativlIS
is useless.
You do not hear me, though I address you,
Yet I want to speak, for I am against you.
So what if you gu lp me , I am not yours .
You overcome me with exhaustion and fever.
You blur my thought, which protests,
You roll over me , dull unconscious power.
T he one w ho will overcome you is swift, armed:
Mind, spirit, maker, renewer.
He jousts with yo u in depths and on high ,
Equestrian, winged, lofty, si lver-scaled.
I have served him in the investiture of forms.
It 's not my concern what he wi ll do with me.
A retinue advances in the sunlight by the lakes.
From white vi ll ages Easter bells resound.
Translated from the Polish by the author and Robert Hass
