Poetry in Motion
New York
Just Children
Adam Zagajewski
Just Children
It was just children playing in the sand
(accompanied by the narcotic scent
of blooming lindens, don't forget),
just children, but after all
the devil, and the minor gods,
and even forgotten politicians
who'd broken all their promises
were also there and watched them
with unending rapture.
Who wouldn't want to be a child
—for the last time!
Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh.
From Without End: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 2002 by Adam Zagajewski. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.