15 April 2024

Old Tumski Bridge spanning the Cybina River in Poznan (Poland)

If porcelain, then only the kind
you won’t miss under the shoe of a mover or the tread of a tank;
if a chair, then not too comfortable, lest
there be regret in getting up and leaving;
if clothing, then just so much as can fit in a suitcase,
if books, then those which can be carried in the memory,
if plans, then those which can be overlooked
when the time comes for the next move
to another street, continent, historical period
or world:

Poem by Stanislaw Baranczak,
painted in a wall in Poznan