A Task

Czeslaw Milosz

In fear and trembling, I think I would fulfill my life
Only if I brought myself to make a public confession
Revealing a sham, my own and of my epoch:
We were permitted to shriek in the tongue of dwarfs and
demons
But pure and generous words were forbidden
Under so stiff a penalty that whoever dared to pronounce one
Considered himself as a lost man.

Next 10 Poems

• Czeslaw Milosz : Account
• Czeslaw Milosz : And Yet The Books
• Czeslaw Milosz : Ars Poetica?
• Czeslaw Milosz : Artificer
• Czeslaw Milosz : At A Certain Age
• Czeslaw Milosz : Campo Di Fiori
• Czeslaw Milosz : Child Of Europe
• Czeslaw Milosz : Conversation With Jeanne
• Czeslaw Milosz : Dedication
• Czeslaw Milosz : Encounter

Previous 10 Poems

• Czeslaw Milosz : A Poem For The End Of The Century
• Czeslaw Milosz : A Hall
• Joaquin Miller : Yosemite
• Joaquin Miller : Westward Ho!
• Joaquin Miller : Vaquero
• Joaquin Miller : Twilight At The Heights
• Joaquin Miller : To Russia
• Joaquin Miller : The Voice Of The Dove
• Joaquin Miller : The Defence Of The Alamo
• Joaquin Miller : Peter Cooper