Surging like a vast current of salmon or sheatfish,
Coiling up and down like an iron serpent
That rears now its torso, now its head,
The armed horsemen breast the prairie grass. —
But hold! my song’s device breaks down:
My Muse begs a rest, having drained her cup
Empty of sweet nectar; and so, farewell
To you, on that steppeland rise,
My pair of golden, sun-drenched statues!
My iron ranks wallowing in the grass and herbage!
One needs here the yearning of a Malczewski—
The kind found in men who are half angels.
One ought to sing here; meanwhile I weave fables.
Whenever I stir up the ashes of my homeland
And then raise my hand once more to the harp,
Specters from the grave rise before me—specters
So lovely! So transparent! Fresh! Alive! Young!
That I am incapable of shedding real tears over them:
And yet I lead them in a dance about the valleys.
They take from my heart whatever they like:
A sonnet, a tragedy, a legend or sublime ode.
It is all that I have, all that I cherish and believe in.
Believe in. . . You ask me, my dear reader,
What I believe in? If I told, it would raise a furor.
In the first place, this rhyme which scoffs and reviles
Has a political credo: these are Dantesque regions
You have entered. I believe with a pagan’s heart
In Shakespeare’s rhymes, in Dante and in Homer.
I believe in the commonwealth of an only son —
In our case it was that surly fellow—Mochnacki!
Though he never stopped spinning his mighty dreams,
He allowed the Dictator to stretch him upon a cross.
I believe that he came into being in human form
And went to the Great Judgment that lights up
Our land; on the way, he dropped in on the Aristocracy
And bided in that flameless Hell for three days;
Then in a little book he passed judgment on his brothers:
Those who are upright and those who feel no shame;
In him I believe, and in his two unfinished books:
I believe in all the saints of our
(Juliusz Slowacki)
More Poetry from Juliusz Slowacki:
Juliusz Slowacki Poems based on Topics: Man, Place, Angels, Youth, Belief & Faith, Dreams, Brothers, Sons, Books, Politics, Paganism- Anhelli - Chapter 11 (Juliusz Slowacki Poems)
- Anhelli - Chapter 7 (Juliusz Slowacki Poems)
- Anhelli - Chapter 5 (Juliusz Slowacki Poems)
- Anhelli - Chapter 10 (Juliusz Slowacki Poems)
- Anhelli - Chapter 8 (Juliusz Slowacki Poems)
- Anhelli - Chapter 4 (Juliusz Slowacki Poems)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Youth Poems, Dreams Poems, Place Poems, Belief & Faith Poems, Sons Poems, Books Poems, Angels Poems, Brothers Poems, Dancing Poems, Politics PoemsBased on Keywords: credo, specters, furor, flameless, reviles, sun-drenched, bided, fellow-, steppeland, dantesque