A LETTER FROM THE CAPTIVE


(LIST JEŃCA)


Oh love, my dear, my love
You must be sleepy, goodnight,
I see your shadow above,
And full of the spring is the night.

The only one on this world
How should I praise your name?
You are the water in a summer hot
And the glove for my frosty hand.

My spring-time sole delight
And in the rest of a year, profound
Whisper to me in this very night
With your sleepy lips and fond:

Why this reward so divine
And this life in heaven, so bliss?…
You make the whole world shine
And you make my world sing.

Stalag Altengrabow, 19.III.1942

[© English translation 2010-2020, Mikołaj Gałczyński]