“Show me your little poem
and I'll tell you why it wasn't written
any earlier or later than it was.Oh no, you've got me wrong.
Keep your funny piece of paper
with its scribbles.
All I need for my ends
is your layer of dirt
and the long gone
smell of burning.”

—  Wisława Szymborska

"Archeology"
Poems New and Collected (1998), The People on the Bridge (1986)

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Wisława Szymborska photo
Wisława Szymborska 92
Polish writer 1923–2012

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