The most beautiful is the object which does not exist
it does not serve to carry water or to preserve the ashes of a hero
it was not cradled by Antigone nor was a rat drowned in it
it has no hole and is entirely open
seen from every side which means hardly anticipated
the hairs of all its lines join in one stream of light
neither blindness nor death can take away the object which does not exist
2
mark the place where stood the object which does not exist with a black square it will be a simple dirge for the beautiful absence
manly regret imprisoned in a quadrangle
3
now all space swells like an ocean
a hurricane beats on the black sail
the wing of a blizzard circles over the black square
and the island sinks beneath the salty increase
4
now you have empty space more beautiful than the object more beautiful than the place it leaves it is the pre-world a white paradise of all possibilities you may enter there cry out vertical-horizontal perpendicular lightning strikes the naked horizon
we can stop at that anyway you have already created a world
5
obey the counsels of the inner eye
do not yield to murmurs mutterings smackings
it is the uncreated world crowding before the gates of your canvas
angels are offering the rosy wadding of clouds
trees are inserting everywhere slovenly green hair
kings are praising purple and commanding their trumpeters to gild
even the whale asks for a portrait
obey the counsels of the inner eye admit no one
6
extract from the shadow of the object which does not exist from polar space from the stern reveries of the inner eye a chair
beautiful and useless like a cathedral in the wilderness
place on the chair a crumpled tablecloth add to the idea of order the idea of adventure
let it be a confession of faith before the vertical struggling with the horizontal
let it be quieter than angels prouder than kings more substantial than a whale let it have the face of the last things
we ask reveal o chair the depths of the inner eye the iris of necessity the pupil of death —Zbigniew Herbert
The most beautiful is the object which does not exist
it does not serve to carry water or to preserve the ashes of a hero
it was not cradled by Antigone nor was a rat drowned in it
it has no hole and is entirely open
seen from every side which means hardly anticipated
the hairs of all its lines join in one stream of light
neither blindness nor death can take away the object which does not exist
2
mark the place where stood the object which does not exist with a black square it will be a simple dirge for the beautiful absence
manly regret imprisoned in a quadrangle
3
now all space swells like an ocean
a hurricane beats on the black sail
the wing of a blizzard circles over the black square
and the island sinks beneath the salty increase
4
now you have empty space more beautiful than the object more beautiful than the place it leaves it is the pre-world a white paradise of all possibilities you may enter there cry out vertical-horizontal perpendicular lightning strikes the naked horizon
we can stop at that anyway you have already created a world
5
obey the counsels of the inner eye
do not yield to murmurs mutterings smackings
it is the uncreated world crowding before the gates of your canvas
angels are offering the rosy wadding of clouds
trees are inserting everywhere slovenly green hair
kings are praising purple and commanding their trumpeters to gild
even the whale asks for a portrait
obey the counsels of the inner eye admit no one
6
extract from the shadow of the object which does not exist from polar space from the stern reveries of the inner eye a chair
beautiful and useless like a cathedral in the wilderness
place on the chair a crumpled tablecloth add to the idea of order the idea of adventure
let it be a confession of faith before the vertical struggling with the horizontal
let it be quieter than angels prouder than kings more substantial than a whale let it have the face of the last things
we ask reveal o chair the depths of the inner eye the iris of necessity the pupil of death —Zbigniew Herbert
The most beautiful is the object which does not exist
it does not serve to carry water or to preserve the ashes of a hero
it was not cradled by Antigone nor was a rat drowned in it
it has no hole and is entirely open
seen from every side which means hardly anticipated
the hairs of all its lines join in one stream of light
neither blindness nor death can take away the object which does not exist
2
mark the place where stood the object which does not exist with a black square it will be a simple dirge for the beautiful absence
manly regret imprisoned in a quadrangle
3
now all space swells like an ocean
a hurricane beats on the black sail
the wing of a blizzard circles over the black square
and the island sinks beneath the salty increase
4
now you have empty space more beautiful than the object more beautiful than the place it leaves it is the pre-world a white paradise of all possibilities you may enter there cry out vertical-horizontal perpendicular lightning strikes the naked horizon
we can stop at that anyway you have already created a world
5
obey the counsels of the inner eye
do not yield to murmurs mutterings smackings
it is the uncreated world crowding before the gates of your canvas
angels are offering the rosy wadding of clouds
trees are inserting everywhere slovenly green hair
kings are praising purple and commanding their trumpeters to gild
even the whale asks for a portrait
obey the counsels of the inner eye admit no one
6
extract from the shadow of the object which does not exist from polar space from the stern reveries of the inner eye a chair
beautiful and useless like a cathedral in the wilderness
place on the chair a crumpled tablecloth add to the idea of order the idea of adventure
let it be a confession of faith before the vertical struggling with the horizontal
let it be quieter than angels prouder than kings more substantial than a whale let it have the face of the last things
we ask reveal o chair the depths of the inner eye the iris of necessity the pupil of death —Zbigniew Herbert