I would like to describe the simplest emotion <br />joy or sadness <br />but not as others do <br />reaching for shafts of rain or sun <br /> <br />I would like to describe a light <br />which is being born in me <br />but I know it does not resemble <br />any star <br />for it is not so bright <br />not so pure <br />and is uncertain <br /> <br />I would like to describe courage <br />without dragging behind me a dusty lion <br />and also anxiety <br />without shaking a glass full of water <br /> <br />to put it another way <br />I would give all metaphors <br />in return for one word <br />drawn out of my breast like a rib <br />for one word <br />contained within the boundaries <br />of my skin <br /> <br />but apparently this is not possible <br /> <br />and just to say -- I love <br />I run around like mad <br />picking up handfuls of birds <br />and my tenderness <br />which after all is not made of water <br />asks the water for a face <br /> <br />and anger <br />different from fire <br />borrows from it <br />a loquacious tongue <br /> <br />so is blurred <br />so is blurred <br />in me <br />what white-haired gentleman <br />separated once and for all <br />and said <br />this in the subject <br />this is the object <br /> <br />we fall asleep <br />with one hand under our head <br />and with the other in a mound of planets <br /> <br />our feet abandon us <br />and taste the earth <br />with their tiny roots <br />which next morning <br />we tear out painfully<br /><br />Zbigniew Herbert<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-would-like-to-describe/
