You survived because you were the first. You survived because you were the last. Because alone. Because the others. Because on the left. Because on the right. Because it was raining. Because it was sunny. Because a shadow fell.
ATTRIBUTION:
Wislawa Szymborska (b. 1923), Polish poet. “Any Case,” lines 6-11 (1948); tr. By Grazyna Drabik and Sharon Olds (1993).
Symborska, who has always lived in Poland, wrote a great deal of protest poetry during the Communist era.
