Most Read... Rebecca WattsThe Cult of the Noble Amateur
(PN Review 239)
John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Tim Parksin conversation with Natalia Ginzburg
(PN Review 49)
Next Issue Hal Coase 'Ochre Pitch' Gregory Woods 'On Queerness' Kirsty Gunn 'On Risk! Carl Phillips' Galina Rymbu 'What I Haven't Written' translated by Sasha Dugdale Gabriel Josipovici 'No More Stories' Valerie Duff-Strautmann 'Anne Carson's Wrong Norma'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
PN Review 275
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 9, Volume 6 Number 1, September - October 1979.

Two Poems Czeslaw Milosz

Czeslaw Milosz, one of Poland's most distinguished poets and men of letters, was born in Lithuania in 1911 and now lives in the United States. He has recently been awarded the 1978 Neustadt International Prize (sponsored by the Oklahoma-based quarterly of international literature World Literature Today). Previous Neustadt Laureates have been Ungaretti (1970), Marques (1972), Ponge (1974) and Elizabeth Bishop (1976).

FROM A NOTEBOOK: BON ON LAKE GENEVA

Copper beeches, glistening poplars
And pine-trees steep above the October fog.
In the valley the lake steams. On the other side,
On mountain ridges, snow already lies.
What remains of life? Only this light,
Peculiar to sunny weather in this season,
Which makes you blink. People say: this is,
And there is neither skill nor talent
Able to reach beyond whatever is,
And unnecessary memories lose their strength.

A smell of cider in barrels. The priest
Mixes lime with a spade outside the school.
By a path my son is running there. Boys carry
Sacks of chestnuts they have gathered from the slopes.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image