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The Terrorist, He Watches | The Ruth Group

Sunday, November 6, 2005

The Terrorist, He Watches

Filed under: FrontPage | Poetry | Terrorism — by Will Kirkland @ 8:07 pm

By Wislawa Szymborska (Poland 1923 — )

The Terrorist, He Watches

The bomb will go off in the bar at one twenty p.m.
Now it’s only one sixteen p.m.
Some will still have time to go in,
Some to get out.

The terrorist has already crossed to the other side of the street.
The distance protects him from any danger,
and what a sight for sore eyes.

A woman in a yellow jacket, she goes in.
A man in dark glasses, he comes out.
Guys in dark jeans, they are talking.
One seventeen and four seconds.
That shorter guy’s really got it made, and gets on a scooter,
and that taller one, he goes in.

One seventeen and forty seconds.
That girl there, she’s got a green ribbon in her hair.
Too bad that bus just cut her from view.
One eighteen p.m.
The girl’s not there any more.
Was she dumb enough to go in, or wasn’t she?
That we’ll see when they carry them out.

One nineteen p.m.
No one seems to be going in.
Instead a fat baldy’s coming out.
Like he’s looking for something in his pockets and
at one nineteen and fifty seconds
he goes back in for those crummy gloves of his.

It’s one twenty p.m.
The time, how it drags.
Should be any moment now.
Not yet.
Yes, this is it.
The bomb, it goes off.

Translated by Robert Maguire and Magnus Jan Krynsky (with edits by wbk.)

From Against Forgetting, Carolyn Forche, Norton, 1993

2 Comments »

  1. Meri:

    I’m very intrested with the poetry that talk about ” The Terrorist, He Watched” by Wislawa Szymborska.
    In this poetry explain about a world that have lost a peace think. And also give many effect from the terrorist. Every human life be broke because of the terrorist. They not only take the human life but also every think that human have.

  2. magdy:

    It`s powerful and human in a very strange way,
    when you see how cold is it from the eyes of a terrorist, you get the affection and Szymborska makes you turn and see the other point of view that he can not, without saying a word…
    It is a favourite piece of art.

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