My apologies to time for all the world I overlook each second. My apologies to past loves for thinking that the latest is the first. Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home. Forgive me, open wounds, for pricking my finger. I apologize for my record of minuets to those who cry from the depths. I apologize to those who wait in railway stations for being asleep today at five a.m.
—Wislawa Szymborska, trans. by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanaugh, “Under One Small Star” (excerpt)
Jul 17, 2009, updated Apr 10, 2025