What the political scientist knows
(O czym wie politolog)

Artur Miedzyrzecki
1981

What does the political scientist know?
The political scientist knows
the latest trends
The current state of affairs
The history of doctrines

What does the political scientist 
not know?
The political scientist doesn't know
about desperation
He doesn't know the game 
that consists in renouncing the game

It doesn't occur to him
That no one knows when
Irrevocable changes may appear
Like an ice floe's sudden cracks

And that our natural resources
Include knowledge of 
venerated laws
The capacity of wonder
And a sense of humor
Text: Polish Poetry of the Last Two Decades of Communist Rule.
Trans. and edit. Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanaugh
Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Press, 1991
Illustration: Conclusion of repairs to electric lights coinciding with the conjunction
in the heavens of the moon & Venus, Jaroslav Solc

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