Poetry does not make history, it gives history-vision! …but for that there must be such an able poet, with poetry at its peak. Adam Zagajewski was one such poet from Ukraine and neighboring Poland, where the battlefield is now visible. As difficult as the pronunciation of the name is, so glorious is his poetry. The word 'magnificent' might sound like an exaggeration, but the poet, born in a small town in Ukraine, had to endure repeated displacements, from town to town, from country to country, living in the shadow of World War II, suffering the repression of an alien communist regime in Poland, book bans. , even though he himself had to suffer, even though fierce like 'Nagri, Nagri Dware, Dware…' The poet continued to write in the midst of depression. He continued to compose poetry. Provided structures that gave the society strength of resistance. His poetry was not lost to history. Often the impulse and outrage of revolution gives rise to spoken poetry. The importance of such a poem is not less. There is chitkar, raging fire, fanagiri, longing for self-dissolution, rage. It has its own voice. It is the offspring of every change and resistance time. … But this poet Zagajewski is a traveler on a different road. There is no eloquence anywhere in his poems. No call, he writes on very small things. Its beauty is different. At first glance, it seems like a poem, depicting love, isolation, nature, town, home, father, friend, train, airport, circus, festival, lightning. But as you patiently hold the finger of history and go inside, you will feel the raging sea of sufferings of human life. How and how many wars, invasions, internal conflicts, nasty greens of power, embargoes and flattery amidst noise-making orders… which the citizens have no choice but to suffer. The experience and feeling of this is the capital of this poet, which was fortunate enough to be instrumental in the composition of his poems. Until recently there was this poet among us. By the time he passed away at the age of 75 in his beloved city of Krakow, Poland, he had received several international honors. The city of Lviv in Ukraine is currently living under the fireball of Russian missiles. Once it was a part of Poland, the poet was born there. Soon the family had to migrate. The poet and his family were there when Russian tanks devastated Poland. It was here that popular resentment against authoritarianism turned into agitations. Media ranging from poetry to nukkad dramas were used by well-to-do people. The government radio used to carry only government praise news. The microphones were set up so that the people gathered in the park could hear him. At exactly five o'clock in the evening the news bulletin starts. Lenin, Stalin, Russia, local government… all this toppled. People tricked us to change the time of coming to the park to get rid of this torture. People started arriving at six instead of five. The government changed the time of news bulletin to six o'clock instead of five o'clock! Aware citizens were not able to pick up arms. now? Clever people found a solution. Instead of coming to the park, took an evening walk on the city roads in the evening. Bhungla of the radio kept giving news in the garden. Well, there was no audience! Zagajewski's poetry transformed the Polish air into a 'public consciousness on the path of history'. That is why it is said that this poet may not have created history, but he gave the public such a vision of history that a different kind of struggle for existence was projected. His books are many. We usually come to foreign literature there via the English language, but Monika Browarczyk and Maria Skakuy Poori – both expatriates from Poland – have worked on Hindi research in Delhi. Both of them did a beautiful Hindi translation of Adam Zagajewski's poems thirteen years ago. A direct Hindi translation from Polish and his poems? It is said that an Iliad could have been composed on every single drop of the tragedies he saw, experienced and the blood shed in his country, but instead of writing history, this poet gave poems of pain and suffering. There is a poem, 'You write about those moments/when the bridge of friendship feels stronger in harsh despair/and love, long evenings and mornings/write a poem on the infinite patience of trees and light! One of the many reasons why Ukraine is still fighting for survival is the poetry of its poets!
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
