744 | Change words – ANITA RÓG-BINDACZ, Poland

THE STRANGE WORDS

With all those words
I meet on the pavement of the street,
what can I do?

With all those expressions
that cannot be expressed
in the common language,

I carry them on the tip
of my tongue,
and thus, I can’t describe them.

I forget them, and everyone asks me
why I don’t let them out
after so long.

But I, what can I do
with my mind full of words
from foreign languages?

I can’t let them out.

ANITA RÓG-BINDACZ (Poland)
Translation by the author and Stanley Barkan