Report From Paradise

Report From Paradise

In paradise the work week is fixed at thirty hours

salaries are higher prices steadily go down

manual labour is not tiring (because of reduced gravity)

chopping wood is no harder than typing

the social system is stable and the rulers are wise

really in paradise one is better off than in whatever country

At first it was to have been different

luminous circles choirs and degrees of abstraction

but they were not able to separate exactly

the soul from the flesh and so it would come here

with a drop of fat a thread of muscle

it was necessary to face the consequences

to mix a grain of the absolute with a grain of clay

one more departure from doctrine the last departure

only John foresaw it: you will be resurrected in the flesh

not many behold God

he is only for those of 100 per cent pneuma

the rest listen to communiqués about miracles and floods

some day God will be seen by all

when it will happen nobody knows

As it is now every Saturday at noon

sirens sweetly bellow

and from the factories go the heavenly proletarians

awkwardly under their arms they carry their wings like violins

-Zbigniew Herbert

(tr. Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott)

Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998) was a Polish poet, born in Lwów. 'Report From Paradise' is from his book Inscription of 1969.