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Give me a blue ribbon…

*
Give me a blue ribbon – I’ll return it
Without delay…
Or give me the shadow of your supple neck:
– No! Not the shadow, nay.

**
The shadow will shudder, when you beckon me,
For it doesn’t lie!
I want nothing from you, young lady of charm,
I withdraw my arm…

***
God used to grant me
Much smaller things:
A fallen leaf stuck to a windowpane,
A drop of rain.

Norwid, Poems, transl. D. Borchardt, A. Brajerska-Mazur, Archipelage Books, New York 2011, p. 119