new poems
translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston
(Archipelago Books)
gateway
by Tadeusz Rozewicz
Lasciate ogni speranza
Voi ch'entrate
all hope abandon
ye who enter here
the inscription at the entrance to hell
in Dante's Divine Comedy
take heart!
beyond that gateway
there is no hell
hell has been dismantled
by theologists
and psychoanalysts
has been turned into an allegory
for reasons humanitarian
and educational
take heart!
beyond the gateway
there is more of the same
two drunken gravediggers
sit by a hole
they're drinking non-alcoholic beer
snacking on sausage
winking at us
playing soccer
with Adam's skull
beneath the cross
the hole waits
for tomorrow's deceased
the stiff is on its way
take heart!
here we will wait for the final
judgment
the pit fills with water
cigarette butts float there
take heart!
beyond the gateway
there will be no history
no goodness no poetry
and what will there be
stranger?
there will be stones
stone
upon stone
upon stone a stone
and on that stone
another
stone
[2000]
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