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According to the free polish translation site i used, Patrick, that means I could get down person too I get messages like that from Windows sometimes actually I just had an email from a polish friend quote on a beach facing the pole well, I am sitting facing north and it occurs to me that I too am facing the (different) pole, possibly nearer it occurred to me that in my friend's case the ocean too is facing the pole I could get down person too L On Wed, May 30, 2012 11:57, Patrick McManus wrote: > człowiek mogłem zabrać się za! Patrick > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf Of Lawrence Upton > Sent: 30 May 2012 09:30 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Snap: Call and response > > > Stary! honks the young man, addressing an older, > after which I do not understand that much at all, > > never did know real Polish - shit, cigarettes, whore (that seems the > rhetoric of it), beer and vodka... Jeden, dwa, trzy, cztery, > pięć, sześć, siedem... it's getting difficult... > osiem, dziewięć, dziesięć -- > > looks impatient as he is ignored; says again: Stary! - old one, I believe. > The elder answers > affably, standing in front of a glass wall on to night, candles reflecting > round his shape, the right hand half of the moon visible; grey hairs and > skull glinting. > > He's at dispute, with some tolerance; notes me listening; > and comments in English, putting on the accent more than a little: "I am > explaining, pointlessly, to my recalcitrant child standing before us that I > have abandoned ambition in recent years. Why should I give up lovely time > to accumulate things of the earth when, in a few prompt years from now, I > shall have the warm fires of the universe glowing to light my way into > understanding? Why should I seize the world when I shall have those stars? > They do not value cupidity, avarice or wealth." > > > > > [stary means old in Polish and is pronounced with a short a, like or > close to, our starry > > The words jeden, dwa, trzy, cztery, pięć, sześć, > siedem, osiem, dziewięć, dziesięć are the numbers from > one to ten. I looked them up to get the orthography correct - orthography > sounds so much better than spelling - but ignored it when the web page > told me "one" is "jed"; I wrote it as I know it; which may be wrong; but > by then I had the lines written in my head; so I am afraid the Polish > people will just have to change their language. I wondered if I should use > the words at all; and concluded that it's ok.] > > ----- > Lawrence Upton > Visiting Fellow, Music Dept, > Goldsmiths, University of London > New Cross, London SE14 6NW > ---- > > ----- Lawrence Upton Visiting Fellow, Music Dept, Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross, London SE14 6NW ----