Life Goes On.

 

 

Her name was Wisława Szymborska. A native of Poland who looked upon the darkest hours of human experience and lived among the most abused people of the twentieth century. In a world gone mad, she survived Nazi tyranny and endured Soviet Occupation. She was also a poet and responded to a living hell with these now famous words, “Reality demands, we also state the following: Life goes on…” Fortunately, for Wisława Szymborska life did go on, but for others it did not.

Six million Pol’s died during that time and in that part of the world.  Not counting the Jewish population who suffered genocide in the Nazi death camps. Like most post war Polish citizens, she was haunted by survivor’s guilt and left wondering why she survived, when millions of others perished.

 As a poet she was not alone and her contemporaries struggled as well. Being disillusioned with ornamental poetry, Czeslaw Milosz wrote somewhat of a treatise on the subject in his poem, Dedication. There he asks, “What is poetry that does not save nations or people?”

You will find an excellent round table on the subject of Post War Polish Poetry at the following link: http://philoctetes.org/calendar/our_life_in_poetry_post_war_polish_poets/ 

His name was Robert Frost and he was born a generation before Szymborska. While both poets managed to reach iconic status in the arena of world literature, there is no evidence of their paths having ever crossed. However, they shared a common thread, philosophically.  It becomes most obvious when considering, life--in light of-- human suffering. 

He was called the poet of the twentieth century and went against the grain carving out his own path toward success and literary legacy. Though he never graduated from a college or university, he was awarded 43 doctorates and won the Pulitzer Prize no less than four times.

He was also, no stranger to suffering and disappointment. After enduring the premature death of two children, the suicide of his son, and loss of his wife, he said, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life, it goes on.”

Robert Frost enjoyed a good and very long life, but for him, it never came easy. And like Szymborska he learned, life has a way of moving forward.

May I get a little personal? How are you doing? Perhaps you’re on the very apex and zenith of a wonderful experience. Or, maybe you’re walking through a dark valley.

History tells us pain and suffering have been courting the human condition for a very long time. Somewhere in the world today, a spouse was lost to terminal illness; a child died in a freak accident, a kid tried crack for the first time, and a drunk crossed the yellow line.

In a courtroom somewhere last week an innocent man was sentenced to prison, while a guilty man was set free. Last week a father walked out on his family, and someone you trusted let you down. At first you were hurt, but now you’re angry about it.

Personally speaking, I’ve recently landed in a place I’ve never been, and the voices in my head are whispering some pretty nasty things. I realize the ambiguity of my confession leaves this a little cloudy, but that’s as far as I can take it for now. I‘ve opened a window to my soul because I feel it’s necessary for integrity’s sake.

And, if I’m going to post a proposition speaking to the dark side of the human condition and support it with testimonies from iconic figures, such as, Szymborska and Frost, then ask, “So, how are you doing?”  I have to be transparent.

There are times, when we all, walk through stuff. If you happen to be walking through some now, you’re not alone. Some of you, I know personally. Others of you, I will never have the opportunity meet, seeing you live in Russia, Germany, England and eleven other countries.

However, tonight, let us come together and agree that, if Szymborska and Frost can walk through the darkness and at the end of the day say, “Life, (it) goes on.” You and I can be encouraged and borrow from their experience and say, “Yes, it does and it will, and as the darkness rolls back, the sun is going to shine again.

Be encouraged.

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