FEBRUARY 25, 2008, 4:42 pm

Translation from Polish to English by Stanisław Barańczak (the greatest translator ever Smiling )

Cat in an empty apartment

Dying - you can't do that to a cat.
Since what can a cat do
in an empty apartment?
Climb the walls?
Rub up against the furniture?
Nothing seems different here,
but nothing is the same.
Nothing has been moved,
but there's more space.
And at nighttime no lamps are lit.

Footsteps on the staircase,
but they're new ones.
The hand that puts fish on the saucer
has changed, too.

Something doesn't start
at its usual time.
Something doesn't happen
as it should.
Someone was always, always here,
then suddenly disappeared
and stubbornly stays disappeared.

Every closet has been examined.
Every shelf has been explored.
Excavations under the carpet turned up nothing.
A commandment was even broken,
papers scattered everywhere.
What remains to be done.
Just sleep and wait.

Just wait till he turns up,
just let him show his face.
Will he ever get a lesson
on what not to do to a cat.
Sidle toward him
as if unwilling
and ever so slow
on visibly offended paws,
and no leaps or squeals at least to start.

login or register to post comments
- Delicious
- Digg
- Reddit
- Magnoliacom
- Newsvine
- Facebook
- Google
- Yahoo
Share

Replies for this Blog post

Thank You

Thu, 03/06/2008 - 22:42 — Bending-Chills

Thank you so much for posting this. I love it. I have often thought about the way humans think of death and how it must be different for animals. There are some that sense illness before we do, but when it an unnatural death, it isn't like we can explain it to them. Do they feel abandoned, or do they think the person is just lost? It is an interesting subject and I really loved this poem about it.
--

thank you, too.

Sat, 03/08/2008 - 15:19 — gealach_17

I'm so glad that you like it. Smiling This poem really touches me too, for some reasons: there's nothing more heart-rending than an abandoned animal and... nothing as heart-rending as an abandoned human, of whom the last verse reminds me.
"Just wait till he turns up, just let him show his face (...)" - doesn't it remind you of a lonesome man who keeps on waiting for the loved one despite the fact there's obviously no hope for their returning? In my very own view, this poem tells also that we, all the earth creations, are so helpless in constant need for more love and warmth than we could ever get. Sad, but beautiful to have this thing in common. Smiling 'Since love is the lord of heaven and earth'...