PIOTR KOCJAN

 

Synonyms Of Love

 

To know does not mean to understand.

To understand does not mean to agree.

To agree does not mean to accept,

even though these are supposedly synonyms.

To agree, to give consent, to give approval,

at the same time to sanction, nods, tolerate,

to give someone a free hand.

Only then can we talk about love,

to death, to the grave?

Is it just love for the sake of poetry

because he is an emotional masochist?

I leave the gate open for anyone to come in.

Just a request,

do not trample the well-tended flowerbeds,

don't pick the flowers,

they smell so lovely.

 

Like A Dog

 

I am always near,

like a dog that loves its owner.

Whatever the weather, day or night,

I'm beside you, I don't give you a break.

 

You have a companion in me forever.

No matter where you are, what you are doing,

I am with you, like a shadow by your leg.

 

In front of the door and outside the window,

I am there and that’s it.

 

I Am Walking Down The Night Street

 

I am walking down a night street, distinguished.

I admire the mystically flashing moon.

And I ask the question

Who lights the stars?

All around quiet,

as quiet as in a dream,

yet in reality.

 

I walk alone like a night watchman.

worn pavements and stones underfoot.

Silent stories, written in space.

Trees passing by, sighing.

Branches, with a whisper of leaves, touch the sky.

 

In paving slabs

echoes of the past and stories of people are heard,

who used to walk here.

The footsteps have long since quietened, but they still speak,

hinting that each one is unique.

 

My thoughts drift like fog in the night.

I stare at the windows,

where the sleepy light

hides the stories of family life.

 

Another mystery awaits around the corner.

Street, city guide,

leads from one dark lantern to another.

Stared at the stars,

I am looking for beauty and moments without worries,

and light is born at the moment

when the stars fall asleep.

 

PIOTR KOCJAN

 

PIOTR KOCJAN - Born 1952. He has always been connected with Silesia and Zaglebie, specifically with Niwka. He has occasionally lived in other places, such as Münster in Germany. Poetry drew him in with its tentacles, back in the last century, probably in the second grade of the E. Plater secondary school in Sosnowiec.  He wrote his first poems on a napkin in the Kolorowa Café. Then he studied, wrote some songs and cabaret lyrics. Fifteen years ago, he opened a drawer and that's how it stayed. He published 2 volumes of poems: ‘Rymowanki dla Danki i przyjaciół’ and ‘Wy-grzebki’. His poems have appeared in many poetry anthologies and several have been displayed on the façade of a tenement house at 1 Bracka Str. in Cracow. Sometimes, he signs his poems as Jan Koc or Najcok. A volume he has been working on for two years - ‘Z Tobą w tle’ is awaiting publication.