Leave-Taking pg. 21

Leave-Taking

Dear angel, oh, I take leave of you

We have to part

So give [me] again a kiss

For I am already off to a distant land

Ach! Och! Ech!

She was beautiful and blameless

She was so sweet as to be frightening

When I saw her for the first time

I cried out “Ach[1]!”

            When she talked to me for a little bit afterwards

            [saying] “My only love”

            Intoxicated by her caress

            I whispered “Och[2]!”

Now she has been my wife

Already for three years

So I just wave my hand

And say “Ech[3]!”

---

[1] Ooh, Aah!

[2] Ooh, Aah!

[3] Oh, well!

As A Memory pg. 20 (Zofia Krzyrzawska)

As A Memory

As many times in your life

As you have plucked a proud, beautiful flower

That many times, remember

Your lover’s tender[1] years

            I’m not seeking praises for mentioning the flower

            To ask you for friendship is my entire goal

            I sketch the latest in couplets[2] in my diary

            Like a swarm[3] of bees I feel feelings without end

I would like to write this whole diary [full]

But already it’s superfluous where[4] I stop

            And I just hold my breath[5] that it might come true

            That my desires might soon[6] be fulfilled

Zofia Krzyrzawska[7]!

Oh, if only you might have willing[8] love for me

Then you would give yourself [to me] to be kissed

---

[1] Literally “young”

[2] Literally “pairs”

[3] Literally “hive”

[4] Literally “when”

[5] Literally “inhale”

[6] Literally “quickly”

[7] Perhaps the author of the above poem, or the subject of the following poem.

[8] Literally “consenting,” “agreeing”

As A Memory (Continued) pg. 19

When I remember that I loved you, and that you loved me

At night I do not sleep, at night I dream, I think always of you

With this love, it will come someday to lying in the grave

If you loved only me, I wouldn’t have to reveal you

And I couldn’t live without you, I would love you in secret

Oh, if you only knew what my heart feels

As soon as you would tell me, I’d kiss you

And that, your sweet kiss, would sweeten my life

And I would tell no one that I loved you in secret

Longing!

Oh, my heart is sad, so sad

Why should I dream, long for, o, dream[1]!

Why, oh why did I choose one

Who can never be mine

            I go around crying[2] the whole beautiful day

            In the white window panes I see her shadow

            It pours a rain of feelings, it’s not so blissful

I go around like that day and night

---

[1] Or “sleep”

[2] Literally “and cry”

As A Memory pg. 18

As A Memory

When you have already abandoned that loving solitude

Where our lives flowed so sweetly

Remember this that I’m writing you

And mourn the happiness that’s already past

            Perhaps when your eyes catch sight of my letter

            Read it sweetly, remember

That I wish you well

Youth will not last long

            So play and be happy

Be merry always and everywhere

            Without cares, rush after experience

Like the cold stone leaning by the grave

Sometimes stops passersby with [its] inscription

So also my name, when you see this card

May you read [it] with tender eyes

            And when, after that, you have read through the page

            Then, when future years have come

Think about me, as if departed

And consider that here my heart is buried

For [My] Diary pg. 17

For [My] Diary[1]

To love! Oh, I will love forever

No one listens to my changes

[My] heart has been wounded forever

[My] heart has been wounded forever

            The wounds of the heart cannot be healed

            No one finds a way to cure [me]

            Death is perhaps the only help for me

            I will carry the memory of you to the grave

Oh, you! You will be at a distance from me

Perhaps you will not remember poor[2] [me]

Perhaps you will not remember even [my] name

Who is[3] fading so prematurely over you

            Our souls grow wines

            When the nightingale returns in spring

When it sends prayers to God from the grove

Oh! That’s as blissful as in paradise

But with that most sweet harmony

They create our melody

When we praise God

[And] love him with all [our] soul[4]

---

[1] Grammatical gender in Polish allows an adjective or past participle form to identify the party speaking or referred to as male or female. The author of the poem titled “For My Diary” refers to herself with a grammatically feminine adjective and is presumably female.

[2] Female form

[3] Female form

[4] The handwriting on this page appears to be slightly different from that of the preceding and following pages.

To [My] Sister! (Continued) pg. 16

Arrive, without bitter sorrow

At [your] intended goals

            Like spring, with an adornment of flowers

            Enchanting all of creation

            May the Creator sweeten the day

            Of [your] parents cares and dreams

Wherever you step, may a flower bloom

Whatever you start, may it succeed

May your cares greet happiness[1]

[And] may mine always blossom for you

            Fortune!

            Fortune turns like a deceptive wheel

            This one runs straight, that one pushes [you] aside

            One it harms, the other it caresses

            For another it pushes grief into life

But you, always, every day

Remember [your] boy friend

As abundantly much as they read[2] these lines

Look, well-wishing, on their author

[And] accept that much of my most loving thanks

Even if things could have separated us widely

---

[1] Or “good fortune”

[2] Sic for “you read”

Of Relatives! (Continued) pg. 15

If you would sincerely love me

Like a doe [loves] its children

I wish, for that, that you would have

As much happiness[1] as there is in the world

            To [My] Uncle!

I thought long, oh uncle

To maybe bring you gifts of some sort

But always had in [my] heart

More of a wreath of tenderness than offerings

            Sincere love, humility

            Everything that grows up from the mind[2]

            [I’m] not in a position to express [in words]

I will give [you] mutual love in a wreath

That which rewards virtue

For the space of your days, in turn

May [it] sweeten life for you

[And] not send [you] deceiving hopes

To [My] Sister!

Enjoy the sweeteness in life

Nonetheless [the sweetness] of a long life

---

[1] Or “good fortune”

[2] The word translated here as “mind” is Ukrainian/Russian in origin.