ELIZA SEGIET

ELIZA SEGIET

Side of Life and Death

People on the right,

Jews on the left.

Her sister was caught into the wagon,

they wanted her too.

She fled between

the Gestapo's widely spaced legs.

She ran home.

- Dad, daddy,

they hid Krysia on the train.

Take her.

He redeemed his daughter.

It's nothing that now

it won't be enough for bread.

TRANSLATED BY ARTUR KOMOTER

Strona Życia i Śmierci

Ludzie na prawo,

Żydzi na lewo.

Jej siostrę schwytali do wagonu,

ją też chcieli.

Uciekła pomiędzy

szeroko rozstawionymi nogami gestapowca.

Pobiegła do domu.

- Tato, tatusiu,

Krysię schowali do pociągu.

Zabierz ją.

Wykupił córkę.

To nic, że teraz

zabraknie na chleb.

Why

When will this nightmare end?

We live hidden,

we hear the gunshots.

Rats run between us.

There – at the top – people are afraid of their own shadows.

What and to whom can one say?

No one will nark when

you are silent,

you don't go out

where the world

is waiting to take revenge on us.

We fall asleep

when the sound of hatred dies away.

- Dada, when will we wake up?

Maybe they will not wake us up.

- Why?

It will be for the better.

Sleep now, my dear.

TRANSLATED BY ARTUR KOMOTER

Dlaczego

Kiedy ten koszmar się skończy?

Żyjemy ukryci,

słyszymy huki wystrzałów.

Pomiędzy nami przebiegają szczury.

Tam – na górze – ludzie boją się własnych cieni.

Co i do kogo można powiedzieć?

Nikt nie doniesie, kiedy

milczysz,

nie wychodzisz

tam gdzie świat

czeka by zemścić się na nas.

Zasypiamy

kiedy cichną odgłosy nienawiści.

- Tate, a kiedy się obudzimy?

Być może nas nie obudzą.

- Dlaczego?

Tak będzie lepiej.

Śpij już, córeńko.

As Once Did

From every alley

the Magnetic People attracted.

Then death

was born more often than life.

Our God, who is in us,

let us live to see tomorrow.

Do not take away the future.

Onto the bomb craters

poured down a rain of tears.

Some lasted

until the uncertain tomorrow.

The Magnetic attracted,

as once did

- the Crucified.

TRANSLATED BY ARTUR KOMOTER

Jak kiedyś

Z każdego zaułka

Magnetyczni Ludzie przyciągali.

Wtedy śmierć

rodziła się częściej od życia.

Boże nasz, któryś jest w nas,

pozwól doczekać do jutra.

Nie zabieraj przyszłości.

Na leje po bombach

lał deszcz łez.

Niektórzy dotrwali

niepewnego jutra.

Magnetyczni przyciągali,

jak kiedyś

- Ukrzyżowany.

ELIZA SEGIET

ELIZA SEGIET – Master's Degree graduate in Philosophy. Completed postgraduate studies in Cultural Knowledge, Philosophy, Arts and Literature at Jagiellonian University. Torn between poetry and drama. Likes to look into the clouds, but keeps both feet on the ground. Her heart is close to the thought of Schopenhauer: "Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time; a man of talent tries to 'use' it". She is a member of The Association of Polish Writers and The World Nations Writers Union. The laureate of The International Annual Publication of 2017 for the poem Questions, and for the Sea of Mist in Spillwords Press in 2018. For her volume of Magnetic People she won a literary award of a Golden Rose named after Jaroslaw Zielinski (Poland 2019 r.). Her poem The Sea of Mists was chosen as one of the best amidst the hundred best poems of 2018 by International Poetry Press Publication Canada. In The 2019 Poet's Yearbook, as the author of Sea of Mists, she was awarded with the prestigious Elite Writer’s Status Award as one of the best poets of 2019. She was awarded World Poetic Star Award by World Nations Writers Union – the world’s largest Writers’ Union from Kazakhstan. In September 2019 she was 1st Place Laureate (Foreign Poetry category) – in Contest Quando È la Vita ad Invitare for poem Be Yourself (Italy). Her poem Order from volume Unpaired was selected as one of the 100 best poems of 2019 in International Poetry Press Publications (Canada). In November 2019 she is a nominee for Pushcart Prize. In November 2019 she is a nominee for Naji Naaman Literary Prizes 2020. In December 2019 she is a nominee for iWoman Global Awards 2020. Author's works can be found in anthologies and literary magazines in Poland and abroad (Albania, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, India, Kenya, Kosovo, Mauritius, Nepal, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, USA, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Zambia).