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This poem is taken from PN Review 26, Volume 8 Number 6, July - August 1982.

Two Poems Wislawa Szymborska

CONVERSATION WITH A STONE

I knock on the door of the stone.
-It's me, let me in.

I want to enter your interior,
to look around,
take you in like breath.

-Go away-says the stone-
I am tightly closed.
Even broken into parts
we will be tightly closed.
Even pulverized to sand
we won't let anyone in.

I knock on the door of the stone.
-It's me, let me in.
I come with pure curiosity.
Life is the only chance for this-
I want to stroll through your palace
then still visit a leaf and a drop of water.
...


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