by Leszek Czuchajowski
(translated from Polish)

University of Idaho, USA

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Did the snow owls
or polar geese
capture the thoughts
pounding in you and in me
and fly with them
toward the arctic sea
to ask a whale
that has been just caught,
“Is it true that when
they cut you into pieces to eat
amid the ritual dances
you did not feel any pain?”
“Yes, indeed, it hurts, but
it does not matter because
they will return to the sea what
has been left of me
and by that they return to it
my soul but tell me
who will return
to the sea your souls
when – God forbidding –
you turn your back on yourselves
and cut yourselves into pieces?”

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Dr.Leszek Czuchajowski <leszek@uidaho.edu> Chemistry Professor, University of Idaho. Moscow, Idaho, USA.

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