Poetry from The Literary Review
Procession
Henia Karmel
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Two marched by In their striped prison garb Then two more in rags. After them came four On stretchers, comically Their bodies jerked up At the night sky. Half-naked with broken legs. A frozen cadaver and now Just beside the prison gate Came four more stretchers One pressed a blood-soaked cloth Across his face The parade went on While we watched in dread. The rag man on the litter was dying. And at the end, four from a nightmare Lugged on their heavy shoulders A bundled body. They couldn’t cope and let it drop. It screamed in its own blood. Translated from the Polish by Fanny Howe and Arie Galles Editor's Note: Translated poems are forthcoming from the Princeton University Press. |
