East Europe: Two Poems
Jastrun, Mieczyslaw & Wazyk, Adam
Five years he was locked in a cell Under sentence of death. During those years Daily the sun traced its arc The stars revolved Slum houses reeked of alcohol Music...
...During those years Daily the sun traced its arc The stars revolved Slum houses reeked of alcohol Music poured from radios Into crowded streets Chatter: "Marx Engels Justice...
...I heard your voice again from Parliament Building Cut short as it broadcast a last appeal for help...
...On Oct...
...Noma Kultura, Nov...
...In Poland's hour of trouble, Tibor Dery, You telephoned to ask if I was safe...
...25, 1956 Translated by NORBERT GUTERMAN N.B...
...Nowa Kultura, Oct...
...There remains the monument of Bern...
...I do not know who of you is wounded, who is dead Now that your voices are silent, and the fires ablaze...
...Tibor Dery is a young Hungarian writer, leader in the fight against "intellectual bureaucracy," elected member of the executive of the Hungarian Writers' Union in September 1956...
...Five years he was locked in a cell Under sentence of death...
...Chatter: "Movies Care packages Jesus Mary Mother of God...
...We were the conscience of history...
...28, 1956 I05 I was with you before the monument of Bem When you raised high the flags of Hungary and Poland...
...He saw the angels of Sodom...
...In the acrid smoke creeping over the fallen rebels This last myth has collapsed...
...He heard the blast of trumpets...
...Now we are silent, For "reasons of state" we must hold our tongues...
...Chatter: "His Holiness has said...
...During those years Each night he was wakened Blinded by flashlights Doused with icy water His fingers were broken Until his body was weightless, transparent, So you could see his ghost Curled there like an embryo in a womb Suddenly, an unknown guard Who had the features of his wife And the eyes of his son (both died while was in prison) Flung open his door...
...25, the day the uprising began in Budapest, a group of Hungarian rebels deposited a wreath at the foot of the monument of Jozef Bem, a Polish general who in 1849 offered his services to Kossuth and distinguished himself by his brilliantly conducted campaign against the Russian interventionist forces...
Vol. 4 • April 1957 • No. 2
