Table Of ContentTHE  e~~.  ANTHOLOGY  !! INTERNATIONAL POETRY
"  "','/ " :  I:;' 'if' 
EDITED  BY 
ILYA  KAMINSKY 
SUSAN  HARRIS 
e~t;.  AND 
WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS 
OF 
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 
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/
 
CONTENTS 
Acknowledgments  .  XXXI 
Introduction by Ilya Kaminsky 
XXXIII 
RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
On My Birthday  •  I 
THE ECCO ANTHOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL POETRY. Copyright © 2010 by Words 
Without Borders. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States ofAmerica. No 
CONSTANTINE P. CAVAFY 
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without 
written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical  The City  •  2 
Body, Remember  •  3 
articles and reviews. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 
53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.  Waiting for the Barbarians  3 
Ithaka  5 
HarperCollins books  may be  purchased  for  educational,  business,  or  sales 
promotional use. For information, please write: Special Markets Department, 
RUBEN DARia 
HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. 
The Wandering Song  .  6 
FIRST EDITION 
Designed by Mary Austin Speaker  ELSE LASKER-SCHULER 
In the Evening  •  8 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request. 
ISBN 978-0-06-158324-7  PAUL VALERY 
10 11 12 13 14  DIXIRRD  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  The Angel Handed Me a Book  8 
~
ANTONIO MACHADO  MOl SHE LEIB HALPERN 
I Never Sought the Glory  .  9  Man, That Ape  .  33 
Last Night, as I Was Sleeping  .  9 
from Moral Proverbs and Folksongs  10 BLAISE CENDRARS 
Eyes  .  II  White Suit  .  34 
RAINER MARIA RILKE  GEORG TRAKL 
Autumn Day  .  12  A Romance to Night  .  35 
Sometimes a Man Stands Up During Supper  12  Grodek  .  35 
The Eighth Duino Elegy  .  13 
Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.  .  15  GIUSEPPE UNGARETTI 
In Memoriam  .  36 
MAX JACOB 
Mystery ofthe Sky  .  18  FERNANDO PESSOA 
Ifthey want me to be a mystic, fine. I'm a mystic.  .  37 
GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE 
The Little Car  .  18  GABRIELA MISTRAL 
Hotel  .  20  The Footprint  .  38 
Zone  .  21 
ANNA AKHMATOVA 
ALEXANDER BLOK  A Land Not Mine  .  40 
[Night. Street. Lamp. Drugstore.]  26 Requiem  .  41 
Northern Elegies  .  49 
JUAN RAMON JIMENEZ  Our Own Land  .  50 
Oceans  .  26 
PIERRE REVERDY 
FRANZ KAFKA  The Book  .  51 
On Parables  .  27  Fruit Bowl  .  5I 
Bottle  .  5I 
UMBERTO SABA 
The Goat  .  27  BORIS PASTERNAK 
Wild Vines  .  52 
VELIMIR KHLEBNIKOV  Sparrow Hills  .  52 
Incantation by Laughter  .  28  For Anna Akhmatova  .  53 
A Wedding  .  54 
DINO CAMPANA 
Journey to Montevideo  29 NELLY SACHS 
Chorus ofthe Rescued  .  55
GOTTFRIED BENN 
This Is Bad  .  30 
Chopin  .  31 
*  * 
:II:  CONTENTS  k  CONTENTS  zi
OSIP MANDELSTAM  YANKEV GLATSHTEYN 
o 
Lord, help me to live through this night 56  Mozart  .  76 
Take from my palms, to soothe your heart  .  56  A Song  .  76 
Leningrad  .  57 
Pear blossom and cherry blossom aim at me  .  58  TRISTAN TZARA 
Through Kiev, through the streets ofthe monster  .  58  Metal Coughdrops  .  77 
Your thin shoulders are for turning red under whips  59 
The Stalin Epigram  .  59  ANDRE BRETON 
Free Union  .  78 
MARINA TSVETAEVA 
from Poems for Moscow  .  60  GERARDO DIEGO 
from Poems to Czechia  .  6r  Julio Campal  .  80 
from Poems to Czechia  .  62 
from Poems for Blok  .  62  EUGENIO MONTALE 
from Poems for Akhmatova  63  Lemon Trees  .  80 
To Kiss a Forehead  .  63  Xenia I  .  82 
To Conclude  .  87 
EDITH SODERGRAN  In the Smoke  .  87 
On Foot I Wandered Through the Solar Systems  .  64 
The Trees ofMy Childhood  .  64  FEDERICO GARCiA LORCA 
The Little Mute Boy  .  88 
CESAR VALLEJO  Farewell  .  88 
The Black Riders  65  Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias  89 
The anger that breaks a man down into boys  .  65  City That Does Not Sleep  .  96 
Masses  .  66  Rundown Church  97 
There are days, there comes to me an exuberant, political hunger  .  67  Little Infinite Poem  .  99 
A man walks by with a baguette on his shoulder  .  68  Song ofthe Cuban Blacks  .  99 
from The Nine Monsters  .  69 
Today I like life much less  .  70  GIACOMO NOVENTA 
Black Stone Lying on a White Stone  .  71  What's Beyond  .  101 
VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY  BERTOLT BRECHT 
Past One O'Clock  .  72  I, the Survivor  .  101 
from The Cloud in Trousers  .  72  Motto  .  101 
JORGE DE LIMA  HENRI MICHAUX 
Distribution of Poetry  74  from I Am Writing to You from a Far-offCountry 
102 
MITSUHARU KANEKO  FRANCIS PONGE 
Opposition  .  75  The Pleasures ofthe Door 
1°4 
* 
xii  CONTENTS  * 
CONTENTS  xiii 
~
JORGE LUIS BORGES 
Since I Was Thrown Inside  124 
Borges and I  .  104  On Living  .  126 
Everything and Nothing  .  105 
RAFAEL ALBERTI 
WEN I-TO  Song 35  .  128 
Perhaps  .  107 
CARLOS DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE 
JACQUES PREVERT  Seven-Sided Poem  .  129 
Barbara  .  107  Don't Kill Yourself  .  130 
Infancy  .  13 I 
ROBERT DESNOS 
Your Shoulders Hold Up the World  .  Ip 
I've Dreamed ofYou So Much  109  Family Portrait  .  13 2 
In the Middle of the Road There Was a Stone 
134 
ALEKSANDER WAT 
Before Breughe1 the Elder  IIO  JORGE CARRERA ANDRADE 
The Guest  .  135 
GEORGE SEFERIS 
from Mythistorema  .  I I I  NICOLAS GUILLEN 
Interlude ofJoy  .  I 12  Sensemaya (Chant for Killing a Snake) 
135 
TATSUJI MIYOSHI 
RAYMOND QUENEAU 
The Ground  .  I 13  The Human Species  .  137 
Great Aso  .  114  IfYou Imagine  .  138 
VITESLAV NEZVAL 
JEAN FOLLAIN 
Woman in Plural  .  I 15  Face the Animal  .  139 
Music of Spheres  .  140 
MARIE LUISE KASCHNITZ 
A Mirror  .  140 
Hiroshima  .  I I 7 
EDVARD KOCBEK 
SALVATORE QUASIMODO 
Longing for Jail  .  141 
Only If Love Should Pierce You  .  I 18 
And Suddenly It's Evening  .  I I 8  PABLO NERUDA 
Body ofa Woman  .  14
2 
ROSE AUSLANDER 
I Remember You as You Were  142 
Motherland  .  I 19  Tonight I Can Write  .  143 
Nothing but Death  .  144 
NAzIM HIKMET 
Walking Around  .  146 
Things I Didn't Know I Loved  .  I 19  Ode to My Socks  .  147 
Angina Pectoris  .  123  Nothing More  .  150 
* 
xiv  CONTENTS  * 
j  CONTENTS  :ltV
Too Many Names  .  ISO 
 YANNIS RITSOS
 
Keeping Still  .  152
  The Meaning ofSimplicity  .  167
 
Wonder  .  168
 
VLADIMIR HOLAN
  Beauty  .  168
 
May,1945  .  153
  Audible and Inaudible  .  169
 
]une,]uly, and August, 1945  IS 5
 
Resurrection  .  156
  MIKLOS RADNOTI
 
Postcard  .  169
 
DANIIL KHARMS
 
The Beginning of a Beautiful Day (A Symphony)  IS 7
  ISRAEL EMIOT
 
A Prayer in Nineteen Forty-Three
  170 
ATTILA JOZSEF
 
The Seventh  .  158
  ANNA SWIR
 
She Does Not Remember
  171 
SANDRO PENNA
  The First Madrigal  .  171 
Maybe I'm getting old, staying seated  IS 9
  The Second Madrigal  .  172
 
A glass of milk and a piazza  .  160
  A Woman Talks to Her Thigh  .  17
2
 
Look at the workers on the green field  160
  A Conversation Through the Door  .  175
 
The accused has only words  .  160
  from Building the Barricade: Building the Barricade, He Steals Furs,
 
A Woman Said to Her Neighbor, Two Hunchbacks,
 
LEOPOLDSEDARSENGHOR
  He Was Lucky  .  177 
To New York, 3  .  161 
Taga for Mbaye Dyab  .  161 
 MIGUEL HERNANDEZ
 
Lullabies of the Onion  .  177 
GUNTER EICH
 
Inventory  .  164
  CZESLAW MILOSZ
 
Dedication  .  180
 
RENE CHAR
  A Song on the End of the World  .  181 
The Gods Are Back  .  164
  A Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto  .  182
 
Mittelbergheim  .  183 
CESARE PAVESE
  Cafe  .  184
 
Death will come and will have your eyes  164
  A Gift  .  185 
Words from Confinement  .  165 
 Winter  .  186
 
And the City Stood in Its Brightness  .  187
 
LEONARDO SINISGALLI
  from Throughout Our Lands  .  188
 
Dog Flies  .  166
  A Felicitous Life  .  189
 
Old Grief  .  166
  from Bobo's Metamorphosis  .  19
0
 
Via Velasca  .  167
  On the Other Side  .  191 
Incantation  .  19
2
 
On Angels  .  193
 
Bypassing rue Descartes  .  194
 
.. 
* 
xvi  CONTEN T S  * 
CONTEN T S  xvii
KARL KROLOW 
ODYSSEAS ELYTIS 
All Day Long We Walked in the Fields  Qyite a Lot of Luck  21 3
 
195
 
Unforeseen Events 
214
 
HO CH'I-FANG 
Get Drunk  .  196
  so CHONGJU 
Self-portrait  .  214
 
EDMOND JABES  Elephants ofThailand  21 5
 
Dedication  .  197
 
CAMILO JOSE CELA 
MOUSHEGH ISH KHAN
  from Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son: Chapter 112: 
The Armenian Language Is the Home ofthe Armenian  8
  The Clock Which Runs the City; Chapter 165: 
19
Street Musicians  .  2 16
 
AIME CESAIRE 
Ex-voto for a Shipwreck  .  198
  BERNARD DADIE 
Lagoonal Calendar  .  200
  IThank You God  .  2I 8
 
All the Way from Akkad, from Elam, from Sumer  201
 
GLORIA FUERTES 
ORHAN VELI KANIK  Birds Nest  .  219
 
Rumors  .  202
  Prayer  .  220
 
Poem with a Tail  .  203
  Now  .  221
 
Qyantitative  .  203
  I Write Poetry, Gentlemen!  222
 
My Gold-Toothed Beauty  Autobiography  .  222
 
2°3
 
JULIO CORTAzAR  ZELDA 
Theme for a Tapestry  .  204
  A Woman Who's Arrived at a Ripe Old Age  223
 
Progress and Retrogression  .  204
 
JOHANNES BOBROWSKI 
OCTAVIO PAZ  Latvian Songs  .  223
 
The Key ofWater  .  205
 
Sight, Touch  .  205
  PRIMO LEVI 
Flame, Speech  .  207
  August  .  224 
NICANOR PARRA  ANNA KAMIENSKA 
The Tablets  .  208
  Thanking  .  225
 
AMan  .  209
  A Prayer That Will Be Answered  226
 
I Take Back Everything I've Said  210
 
PAUL CELAN 
FAIZ AHMED FAIZ  Memory of France  .  227
 
YouTellUs What to Do  .  2I I
  Corona  .  227
 
Before You Came  .  2 I 2
  Deathfugue  .  228
 
*  * 
xviii  CONTENTS  ... 
 CONTEN T S  xix
Zurich, the Stork Inn  .  229  CHAIRIL ANWAR 
There was earth inside them  230  Heaven  .  248 
I hear that the axe has flowered  23 1  Tuti's Ice Cream  .  248 
Psalm  .  231 
Tenebrae  .  232  AUGUSTINHO NETO 
Kinaxixi  .  249 
JoAo CABRAL DE MELO NETO 
The Emptiness ofMan  .  233  WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA 
I Am Too Near  .  250 
TADEUSZ ROZEWICZ  Letters of the Dea~  .  25 I 
Who Is a Poet  .  234  A Great Number  .  252 
A Sketch for a Modern Love Poem  235  The Joy ofWriting  .  253 
In Praise ofMy Sister  .  254 
TYMOTEUSZ KARPOWICZ  Pieta  .  255 
A Lesson of Silence  .  236  Under a Certain Little Star  255 
Ecclesiastes  .  236  Homecoming  .  256 
The Terrorist, He Watches  257 
H. C. ARTMANN  Children of the Epoch  25 8 
An Optician Has a Glass Heart  .  237  Hunger Camp atJaslo  259 
ERICH FRIED  YVES BONNEFOY 
French Soldiers Mutiny-I91?  239 The Tree, the Lamp  .  260 
BLAGA DIMITROVA  MIROSLAV HOLUB 
Ars Poetica  .  240  The Fly  .  261 
Man cursing the sea  262
VASKO POPA  Zito the magician  263
St. Sava's Journey  .  240  Cinderella  .  264 
Prayer to the Wolf Shepherd  241
WolfAncestry  .  242  GERRIT KOUWENAAR 
Wolf Eyes  .  243  Elba  .  265 
Absolute Goal  .  243 
The Tenants ofthe Little Box  244 SADANAND REGE 
The Craftsmen ofthe Little Box  245 Old Leaves from the Chinese Earth  266 
Last News About the Little Box  245
ZAHRAD 
MIRON BIALOSZEWSKI  Cleaning Lentils  267
A Ballad of Going Down to the Store  246 
ZBIGNIEW HERBERT 
PIER PAOLO PASOLINI  The Rain  .  268 
Prayer to My Mother  .  247  Report from Paradise  .  270 
*  * 
xx  CONTENTS  CONTENTS  xxi 
~
ROBERTO JUARROZ 
Our Fear  .  270
 
Hen  .  272
  from Ninth Vertical Poetry: Snow has turned the world into 
Five Men  .  272
  a cemetery  .  294
 
My Father  .  274
  Life Draws a Tree  .  294
 
What Mr. Cogito Thinks About Hell  275 
 from Second Vertical Poetry: Each one goes however he can  296
 
The Envoy ofMr.Cogito  .  276
 
ERNESTO CARDENAL 
NINA CASSIAN  "For Those Dead, Our Dead ..."  .  297
 
Temptation  .  277 
AHMADSHAMLOU 
CLARIBEL ALEGRIA  Existence  .  298
 
From the Bridge  .  278
 
INGEBORG BACHMANN 
YEHUDA AMICHAI
  Every Day  .  298
 
Yom Kippur  .  281 
 The Respite  .  299
 
I know a man  .  282
 
Letter  .  282
  JAIME SABINES 
A Man in His Life  .  283
  Pieces of Shadow  .  300
 
A Pity. We Were Such a Good Invention  284
 
We Did It  .  285 
 JEAN-PIERRE ROSNAY 
Jerusalem Is Full ofUsed Jews  .  285 
 Piazza San Marco  .  301
 
My Mother Once Told Me  .  286
 
A Dog After Love  .  287
  GUNTER GRASS 
Love Song  .  287
  Happiness  .  302
 
When I Banged My Head on the Door  28 7
 
A Letter of Recommendation  .  288
  KIM NAM-JO 
The Diameter ofthe Bomb  .  289
  Foreign Flags  .  302
 
Gifts of Love  .  289
 
Tourist  .  290
  LUO FU 
Song of Everlasting Regret  .  303
 
PHILIPPE JACCOTTET 
Distances  .  291 
 HANSMAGNUSENZENSBERGER 
last will and testament  .  308
 
ANGEL GONZALEZ 
Diatribe Against the Dead  .  292
  ENRIQUE LIHN 
Whatever You Want  .  292
  Torture Chamber  .  309
 
EUGEN GOMRINGER  DAN PAGIS 
Streets and Flowers  .  293 
 Autobiography  .  3I I
 
Picture Postcard from Our Youth  312 
*  * 
xxii  CONTENTS  CONTENTS  xxiii 
Ii.