Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Soul and the Body on the Beach


(Martinique, 1971 by André Kertész, 1894-1985, Hungarian-
born photographer)

THE SOUL AND THE BODY ON THE BEACH

The soul on the beach
studies a textbook of philosophy.
The soul asks the body:
Who bound us together?
The body says:
Time to tan the knees.

The soul asks the body:
Is it true
that we do not really exist?
The body says:
I'm tanning my knees.

The soul asks the body,
Where will the dying begin,
in you or in me?
The body laughed,
It tanned its knees.

~ Anna Swir (1909-1984), Polish poet, translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan

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