.
This is what I see in my dreams about final exams:
two monkeys, chained to the floor, sit on the windowsill,
the sky behind them flutters,
the sea is taking its bath.
two monkeys, chained to the floor, sit on the windowsill,
the sky behind them flutters,
the sea is taking its bath.
The exam is the history of Mankind.
I stammer and hedge.
One monkey stares and listens with mocking disdain,
the other seems to be dreaming away --
but when it's clear I don't know what to say
he prompts me with a gentle
clinking of his chain.
the other seems to be dreaming away --
but when it's clear I don't know what to say
he prompts me with a gentle
clinking of his chain.
Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012): Bruegel's Two Monkeys, translated from the Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh in Szymborska: View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems (1995)
Antverpia -- bird's eve view of the city of Antwerp (Brabant), 1572: Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg, from thire atlas Civitates orbis terrarum, vol. 1, 1572; image by Walrasiad, 23 June 2010
Dwie malpy Bruegla
Tak wygląda mój wielki maturalny sen:
siedzą w oknie dwie małpy przykute łańcuchem,
za oknem fruwa niebo
i kąpie się morze.
Zdaję z historii ludzi.
Jąkam się i brnę.
Małpa wpatrzona we mnie, ironicznie słucha,
druga niby to drzemie --
a kiedy po pytaniu nastaje milczenie,
podpowiada mi
cichym brzękaniem łańcucha.
siedzą w oknie dwie małpy przykute łańcuchem,
za oknem fruwa niebo
i kąpie się morze.
Zdaję z historii ludzi.
Jąkam się i brnę.
Małpa wpatrzona we mnie, ironicznie słucha,
druga niby to drzemie --
a kiedy po pytaniu nastaje milczenie,
podpowiada mi
cichym brzękaniem łańcucha.
Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012): Dwie Malpy Bruegla (Bruegel's Two Monkeys), first published in Zycie Literackie, June 1957; text here given as appears in Szymborska's third volume of verse, Wolanie do Yeti (Waiting for the Yeti), July 1957
"We demand bread!": candid photo taken by secret police during Poznań protests: photographer unknown, June 1956; image by Jarekt, 5 December 2010
Kochanowskiego Street in Poznań; transporting one of the victims, June 1956: photographer unknown, from Jarosław Maciejewski, Zofia Trojanowicz: Poznański czerwiec 1956, Poznań 1981; image by Belissarius, 17 November 2011
Funeral of one of the victims, Poznań protests, June 1956: photographer unknown, from Jarosław Maciejewski, Zofia Trojanowicz: Poznański czerwiec 1956, Poznań 1981; image by Belissarius, 17 November 2011
Soviet tanks and empty Joseph Stalin Square in Poznań, June 1956: photographer unknown, from Jarosław Maciejewski, Zofia Trojanowicz: Poznański czerwiec 1956, Poznań 1981; image by Belissarius, 17 November 2011
Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus capucinus, from Cebus apella group), sharing: photo by Frans de Waal, from K. Powell, Economy of the Mind, 2003; image by Ayacop, 2006