I Knocked My Head against the Wall

Anna SwirAnna Swir

1 min read · 12.4K reads

As a child
I put my finger in the fire  
to become
a saint.As a teenager
every day I would knock my head against the wall.As a young girl
I went out through a window of a garret  
to the roof
in order to jump.As a woman
I had lice all over my body.
They cracked when I was ironing my sweater.I waited sixty minutes  
to be executed.
I was hungry for six years.Then I bore a child,  
they were carving me  
without putting me to sleep.Then a thunderbolt killed me
three times and I had to rise from the dead three times  
without anyone’s help.Now I am resting
after three resurrections.
Anna Swir
About the poet

Anna Swir

1909 - 1984/PolishAnna Swir (Świrszczyńska) was born in Warsaw, Poland, to an artistic though impoverished family. She worked from an early age, supporting herself while she attended university to study medieval Polish literature. In the 1930s she worked for…

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