Gods- from mythology

GODS (from Mythology)

- by Zbigniew Herbert (1924~1998)

First there was
a god of night and tempest,
a black idol without eyes
before whom they leapt, naked
and smeared with blood.

Later on, in times
of the republic, there were
many gods with wives, children,
creaking beds, and harmlessly
exploding thunderbolts.

At the end only superstitious
neurotics carried in their pockets
little statues of salt, representing
the god of irony. There was no
greater god at that time.

Then came the barbarians.
They too valued the little god
of irony. They would crush it
under their heels and add it
to their dishes.

* * *

- Zbigniew Herbert (1924~1998) Polish poet, essayist, drama writer and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement, Home Army, during World War II, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. - Translated from the Polish by Czeslaw Milosz.