IZABELA ZUBKO

IZABELA ZUBKO

A LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER

you are the motion of my hands

the voice of shut mouth

and the mystery

warming up a frigid night

stealthily in drowse

we stumble

on bare shadows

I braided a footbridge from them

over an unflowing river

Translated by: Anna Mazur

Latarnik

jesteś ruchem moich rąk

głosem zamkniętych ust

i tajemnicą

która rozgrzewa zimną noc

ukradkiem w półśnie

potykamy się

o nagie cienie

uplotłam z nich kładkę

nad niepłynącą rzeką

DOUBT IN THE SHADE OF MIDNIGHT

I was trying to know the secrets

of your voice

which words smell of flowers

hurting

like only rose can hurt

I’ve ceased to distinguish between day and night

the second half of the sky

became as strange as the first one

I don’t know for what I’m waiting more

for you

or for your absence

Translated by: Anna Mazur

Wątpliwość w kolorze północy

próbowałam poznać tajemnice

twojego głosu

którego słowa pachniały kwiatami

kalecząc tak

jak tylko róża potrafi

przestałam odróżniać noc od dnia

druga połowa nieba

stała się tak samo obca jak pierwsza

nie wiem na co bardziej czekam

na ciebie

czy na twą nieobecność

ENTERING INTO THE NEW WORLD

I destroyed I killed I destroyed

four bare walls of

the presence in your world

there was a narrow window of south

which lighted up the silence

the element of hands

hidden in the chords of life

fragile walls

without an exit beyond the unity

I long for the move of wings

freezed with expectation

Translated by: Anna Mazur

Wejście w inny świat

zburzyłam uśmierciłam zburzyłam

cztery kąty

obecności w twoim świecie

w nim wąskie okno południa

rozświetlało milczenie

żywioł rąk

ukryty w akordach życia

kruche ściany

bez wyjścia poza jedność

tęsknię za ruchem skrzydeł

zastygłych w oczekiwaniu

IZABELA ZUBKO

IZABELA ZUBKO – born in 1974 in Warsaw, Poland - poetess, journalist and translator. She was graduated in 2008 from the Literary-Artistic Department at the Jagiellonian University, Cracow. She  is an author of 10 volumes of poetry. Her poems were published in many newspapers in Poland and abroad. They can be found in  many anthologies, too. For example her works there are  in the collection entitled "The poets of our time." Izabela Zubko is a winner of numerous poetry competitions. She is a member of: Polish Writer’s Association, literary-musical group “Terra Poetica”, of 2nd Warsaw Branch the Polish Authors’ Association (SAP) and the Association of Culture Originators (RSTK). She received two awards of RSTK - silver one (2010) and gold one (2015) in appreciation of her  literary achievements. She also received the golden statuette of Stanislaw Moniuszko (April 2016) awarded  her by the Polish Cultural Centre in Lithuania.