Today’s literary quote of the day is, once again, an entire poem. This time from one of my all-time favorite poets, Wislawa Szymborska. She won the Nobel Prize (literature) in 1996.
On death without exaggeration.
On Death, without Exaggeration
It can’t take a joke,
find a star, make a bridge.
It knows nothing about weaving, mining, farming,
building ships, or baking cakes.In our planning for tomorrow,
it has the final word,
which is always beside the point.It can’t even get the things done
that are part of its trade:
dig a grave,
make a coffin,
clean up after itself.Preoccupied with killing,
it does the job awkwardly,
without system or skill.
As though each of us were its first kill.Oh, it has its triumphs,
but look at its countless defeats,
missed blows,
and repeat attempts!Sometimes it isn’t strong enough
to swat a fly from the air.
Many are the caterpillars
that have outcrawled it.All those bulbs, pods,
tentacles, fins, tracheae,
nuptial plumage, and winter fur
show that it has fallen behind
with its halfhearted work.Ill will won’t help
and even our lending a hand with wars and coups d’etat
is so far not enough.Hearts beat inside eggs.
Babies’ skeletons grow.
Seeds, hard at work, sprout their first tiny pair of leaves
and sometimes even tall trees fall away.Whoever claims that it’s omnipotent
is himself living proof
that it’s not.There’s no life
that couldn’t be immortal
if only for a moment.Death
always arrives by that very moment too late.In vain it tugs at the knob
of the invisible door.
As far as you’ve come
can’t be undone.
As always, feel free to share your thoughts regarding this particular quote or drop one of your own favorite literary quotes in the comment section of this post.
P.S.
I received quite some reading material for Christmas. The complete works of Shakespeare, Moby Dick, Great Expectations and Crime and Punishment… Y’all can expect to read some quotes from those works in the coming weeks.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.