The Tongue by Zbigniew Herbert, translated by Czeslaw Milosz

Aug 04, 2007 12:54

Inadvertently I passed the border of her teeth and swallowed her agile tongue. It lives inside me now, like a Japanese fish. It brushes against my heart and my diaphragm as if against the walls of an aquarium. It stirs silt from the bottom.
She whom I deprived of a voice stares at me with big eyes and waits for a word.
Yet I do not know which tongue to use when speaking to her - the stolen one or the one which melts in my mouth from an excess of heavy goodness.

zbigniew herbert, czeslaw milosz

Previous post Next post
Up