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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN, by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: She must be willing to please Last Line: For better, for worse, and for heaven's sake | |||
She must be willing to please. To change so that nothing should change. It's easy, impossible, hard, worth trying. Her eyes are if need be now deep blue, now gray, dark, playful, filled for no reason with tears. She sleeps with him like some chance acquaintance, like his one and only. She will bear him four children, no children, one. Naive yet giving the best advice. Weak yet lifting the weightiest burdens. Has no head on her shoulders but will have. Reads Jaspers and ladies' magazines. Doesn't know what this screw is for and will build a bridge. Young, as usual young, as always still young. Holds in her hands a sparrow with a broken wing, her own money for a journey long and distant, a meat-cleaver, poultice, and a shot of vodka. Where is she running so, isn't she tired? Not at all, just a bit, very much, doesn't matter. Either she loves him or has made up her mind to. For better, for worse, and for heaven's sake. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...REALITY REQUIRES by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA THE JOY OF WRITING by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA A FILM FROM THE SIXTIES by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA FOUR A.M. by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA HITLER'S FIRST PHOTOGRAPH by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA IN PRAISE OF FEELING BAD ABOUT YOURSELF by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA REPORT FROM THE HOSPITAL by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA STARVATION CAMP NEAR JASLO by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA |
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