True love. Is it normal,
Is it serious, is it practical?
What does the world get from two people
who exist in a world of their own?
Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason,
Drawn randomly from millions, but convinced
It had to happen this way-in reward for what? For nothing.
The light descends from nowhere.
Why on these two and not on others?
Doesn¡¦t this outrage justice? Yes, it does.
Doesn¡¦t it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles,
And cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts.
Look at the happy couple.
Couldn¡¦t that at least try to hide it,
Fake a little depression for their friends¡¦ sake!
Listen to them laughing ¡Vit¡¦s an insult.
The language they use-deceptively clear.
And their little celebrations, rituals,
The elaborate mutual routines-
It¡¦s obviously a plot behind the human race¡¦s back!
It¡¦s hard even to guess how far things might go
If people start to follow their example.
What could religion and poetry count on?
What would be remembered? What renounced?
Who¡¦d want to stay within bounds?
True love. Is it really necessary?
Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence,
Like a scandal in Life¡¦s highest circles.
Perfectly good children are born without its help.
It couldn¡¦t populate the planet in a million years,
It comes along so rarely.
Let the people who never find true love
Keep saying that there¡¦s no such thing.
Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die.
-Szymborska
who exist in a world of their own?
Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason,
Drawn randomly from millions, but convinced
It had to happen this way-in reward for what? For nothing.
The light descends from nowhere.
Why on these two and not on others?
Doesn¡¦t this outrage justice? Yes, it does.
Doesn¡¦t it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles,
And cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts.
Look at the happy couple.
Couldn¡¦t that at least try to hide it,
Fake a little depression for their friends¡¦ sake!
Listen to them laughing ¡Vit¡¦s an insult.
The language they use-deceptively clear.
And their little celebrations, rituals,
The elaborate mutual routines-
It¡¦s obviously a plot behind the human race¡¦s back!
It¡¦s hard even to guess how far things might go
If people start to follow their example.
What could religion and poetry count on?
What would be remembered? What renounced?
Who¡¦d want to stay within bounds?
True love. Is it really necessary?
Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence,
Like a scandal in Life¡¦s highest circles.
Perfectly good children are born without its help.
It couldn¡¦t populate the planet in a million years,
It comes along so rarely.
Let the people who never find true love
Keep saying that there¡¦s no such thing.
Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die.
-Szymborska