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Zbigniew Herbert

Zbigniew Herbert was born on October 29, 1924, in Lwów, Poland, which is now the city of Lviv in the Ukraine. His grandfather was English (and a distant relative to George Herbert ) and settled in Lwów to

Kant. Last Days

by Zbigniew Herbert (1924–98)

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15

It is truly no evidence of a great soul

—O nature—

and if you aren't magnanimous

it may be that you don't exist at all.

Could you really not treat him to a sudden death
like a candle guttering
like a wig slipping off
like a ring's short trip on a smooth tabletop
spinning and turning

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