In the Cabin

I dream we’re on a ship
gripped by a deadly epidemic.
We zigzag over the sea, no port will accept us. 
By now, the captain and whole crew are sick.
But you and I are still well.
An official knocks at our cabin with a declaration 
that we understand and accept this condition.
She orders us to sign. We slam the door in her face.
Now we’re alone, nobody can come in,
no one and nothing can touch us — only us.

Translated by Karen Kovacik

The original poem, written by Polish poet Krystyna Dąbrowska, was first published in her 2014 book, Czas i przesłona (Time and Aperture), and is printed below.

W kajucie

Śni mi się, że jesteśmy na statku
ogarniętym śmiertelną epidemią.
Błąkamy się po morzu, nie chce nas żaden port.
Już wiemy, że zachorował kapitan i cała załoga.
Ale ja i ty jeszcze nie.
Do naszej kajuty puka urzędniczka z oświadczeniem,
że rozumiemy i godzimy się na sytuację.
Każe podpisać. Zamykamy przed nią drzwi.
Teraz jesteśmy sami, nikt nie ma tutaj wstępu,
nikt i nic nas nie dotknie – tylko my.

z tomu Czas i przesłona, Wydawnictwo Znak 2014

ξ

Krystyna Dąbrowska (born in 1979) is a poet, essayist, and translator. She is author of four poetry books: Biuro podróży (Travel Agency, Zielona Sowa 2006), Białe krzesła (White Chairs, WBPiCAK 2012), Czas i przesłona (Time and Aperture, Znak 2014), Ścieżki dźwiękowe (Soundtracks, Wydawnictwo a5 2018). In 2013, she won two of the most prestigious Polish literary prizes — the Wisława Szymborska Award and the Kościelski Award — and in 2019, she won the Literary Award of the Capital City of Warsaw. Her poems have been translated into fifteen languages. In the US, they have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The Los Angeles Review, The Threepenny Review, New England Review, The Southern Review, Tupelo Quarterly, AGNI, The Arkansas International, Solstice, and Ploughshares, among others. A collection of her poems was published in Italy (La faccia del mio vicino, Valigie Rosse 2017) and in Austria (Austausch der Fenster, Edition Thanhäuser 2018). She lives and works in Warsaw.

Karen Kovacik (trans.) is the author of the collections Metropolis Burning and Beyond the Velvet Curtain; the editor of Scattering the Dark, an anthology of Polish women poets; and the translator, most recently, of Jacek Dehnel’s Aperture, a finalist for the 2019 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. Her poetry and translations of contemporary Polish writers have appeared widely.