* * * 

Silence swells within you

you become an oasis

in the ash heap of years

though en route to its depths

you lean on a dubious guardrail

you will reach 

for an unfinished diary

you will complete it solitarily

in the mist of fading photographs

a wealth of separateness

makes you resistant 

to superficial courting

ribbiting of frogs

and effeminate men

yet you fade away

from the inside

* * * 

Awaken me

I shall diligently 

gather the morning moisture

adverse winds will die down

clouds illuminated with a thunderbolt

will uncover the pupils of the world 

with a birch twig in the hand

lead me

along the tiny cricket paths

to the tufts of mature grass

to satisfy desires

with the scent of a scythed meadow

in the twilight of the day

awaken me

Oasis

Along a hardened hornbeam avenue

an imagination therapy

with a stream of details

altering the surroundings

an oak shades

a birch brightens up

the sad yew poems

a uniform of ivy overgrows

on a mossy carpet insects

assist the moss-grown poetry

of the present time –

cypress monotony

of somber décor 

weeping of a willow

soothed with manna of clear honey

fragrant with melliferous blossom

Wonderment

The bedroom door still creaks

and in fathomless linen

phantoms are already born

in the window crevices – music

in the air a flutter of wings

princesses of leas bloom in white

he is haunted by yearning

for almonds

but the eyes replete with light

do not allow him to drift into slumber

life is but a drop

immersion in the outskirts – unrealizable 

one needs to merge into its essence

and relish the ocean

Grandiloquence

It addicts him stronger and stronger

with each day his self

generates newer neuronal pathways

swifter telepathy

but noble objects

distanced

the prospect of contact – remote

who is he

he cannot keep pace

with the unknown temptation

dance of hands does not suffice

the twilight turns green

quarrelsome trees air their crowns

Bacchantes fall silent 

his night is filled with light

he will be a master

a humble life before

now grandiloquence –

aerugo on a pedestal

strong tremors are needed

for him to change the diction

and once more profane the word 

Translation: Anna Maria Stępień

KAZIMIERZ BURNAT

KAZIMIERZ BURNAT (POLAND) Kazimierz Burnat was born in Szczepanowice on the Dunajec River. He graduated from the University of Wrocław and the University of Economics in Wrocław. Long-time director of the ZZSD "Polar" in the city and president of the Polar Sports Club. Creator of scouting for difficult youth as part of the Nieprzetarty Szlak (Untrodden Trail). Paratrooper, former soldier of the Red Berets. Guardian of Places of National Remembrance. His life mottos are: remembering the dead—the source of longevity; doing good—the path to humanity. Polish poet, essayist, translator of Slavic literature, journalist, literary critic, culture animator. Author of 23 books of poetry, including 6 reissues and 7 translations from Czech and Ukrainian, and over 60 collective books with translations of works from these languages, as well as Belarusian, Russian, Slovenian and Hungarian. He edited and provided an afterword or introduction to over 90 different books. Co-author of approximately 370 anthologies and monographs. Translated into over 44 foreign languages. Instructor of literary workshops, juror of competitions. Organizer or co-organizer and active participant of numerous national and international festivals and literary meetings. For years, organizer of the International Poetry Festival "Poets Without Borders" in Polanica-Zdrój. Initiator and organizer of cultural cooperation with the National Union of Writers of Ukraine. Awarded with several Ukrainian Literary Awards for translation activity and popularization of Ukrainian literature abroad, as well as for his own literary output and significant contribution to the revival of spirituality and culture of the Ukrainian nation. He received state, ministerial and regional awards. Honored with the Silver Medal "For Merit to Culture Gloria Artis". Winner of the Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Award (2019), the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Award for outstanding achievements in the field of culture (2022), the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Award for creative achievements (2023) and Shabdaguchha International Poetry Award for significant contribution to world poetry (the U.S./Bangladesh 2023), among others. Honorary Citizen of Polanica-Zdrój. In the years 1995-2004 vice-president, and from 2004-2015 president of the Literary Group "Dysonans"; 2006-2011 editor-in-chief of the social and cultural magazine "Bez kurtyny"; 2007-2015 chairman of the Main Court of Peers of the Polish Writers’ Union (ZLP); 2011-2014 vice-president, and since 2015 president of the Lower Silesian Branch of the ZLP in Wrocław. From 2015-2023 member of the Presidium of the Main Board of the ZLP—chairman of the Qualification Committee. Member of the European Society of Culture, the Social Council for Culture to the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and the Journalists’ Association of the Republic of Poland.