I said so little.
Days were short.
Short days.
Short nights.
Short years.
I said so little.
I couldn’t keep up.
My heart grew weary
From joy,
Despair,
Ardor,
Hope.
The jaws of Leviathan
Were closing upon me.
Naked, I lay on the shores
Of desert islands.
The white whale of the world
Hauled me down to its pit.
And now I don’t know
What in all that was real.
Berkeley, 1969
translated by Czesław Miłosz and Lillian Vallec