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Poetry Readings: The Gift of Mediation
Julia Hartwig Poet
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These aren't very happy poems but there are some. Here's an early poem which is about the contemplation of nature which I had a lot of contact with and which I tried to immortalise on paper. It's called The Gift of Mediation.

 

Shadow warns shadow that you approach,

light warns light.

Frightened, a wild dove starts up. You are an obstacle,

not foreseen here between the loftiness of pines

and penal divisions of low grasses.

 

You are a foundling looking for a family,

a prodigal son who has fled

and returns to bear witness to the independence

of trees, thistles, the quick butterflies and dying dragonflies.

 

It is through them this moment of peace comes to us,

they help grace descend on the wing

of an unknown bird,

and it is their voices – an ermine's cry, moan of a dove,

complaint of an owl – that remind us

the hardship of solitude is measured out equally.

 

Taken from 'In Praise of the Unfinished: Selected Poems' (2008) translated, from the Polish, by John and Bogdana Carpenter.

Nie są to takie wierszyki wesołe, ale są. Jest taki wczesny wiersz dotyczący jak gdyby kontemplacji natury, z którą miałam wiele do czynienia i którą często próbowałam uwiecznić na papierze. Wiersz nazywa się Dar pośrednictwa.

 

Cień ostrzega cień, że nadchodzisz, światło ostrzega światło.

Dziki gołąb zrywa się spłoszony. Jesteś zawadą,

jesteś nie przewidziany w tej proporcji między wyniosłością sosny

i karnymi wojskami małych traw.

 

Jesteś podrzutkiem szukającym rodziny,

synem marnotrawnym, który uciekł

i który wraca, by poświadczyć niepodległość

drzew, mieczów [sic], ostów, szybkich motyli i ginących ważek.

 

To przez was spływa na nas ten moment ukojenia

i wy pomagacie łasce, by przybywała na skrzydle

nie rozpoznanego ptaka.

To wasz głos – krzyk łasicy, jęk synogarlicy

i płacz sowy przypominają [sic],

że trud samotności dany jest nam po równi.

Born to a Polish father and a Russian mother, Julia Hartwig (1921-2017) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator and author of children's books. She studied at the University of Warsaw, the Catholic University in Lublin and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Czesław Miłosz called her 'the grande dame of Polish poetry'. Julia Hartwig was one of the few poets in Poland who made masterly use of poetic prose. She translated poems by Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Max Jacob, Cendrars and Supervielle, and published monographs on Apollinaire and Gerard de Nerval. She also translated from English, and published a large anthology of American poetry which she co-edited in 1992 with her late husband, the poet Artur Międzyrzecki.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: The Gift of Mediation

Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds

Date story recorded: June 2010

Date story went live: 15 June 2011