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]