The Hidden Poem

We were married by a priest who is also a personal friend of my wife's. As a wedding gift he gave us thick book about the teachings of the Catholic church which is not an unusual present to get from a priest. Although my wife is quite religious the book was put on our bookshelf and left untouched until a couple of years later. One day I was browsing through unread books on our shelf and I picked out this book. I was surprised to find a poem pasted on to one of the blank pages at the start of the book.

The priest had chosen a very beautiful poem about love by Janusz Kofta which we appreciated very much even though we missed it at the time. I haven't translated it literally because I wanted to try to capture more of the meaning in Polish.

"Miłość"	"Love"
Co to jest miłość?	What is love?
Nie wiem	I don't know
Ale to miłe	But it's lovely
Że chcę ją mieć	That I want to have her
Dla siebie	For myself
Na nie wiem	For how long
Ile	I don't know
Gdzie mieszka miłość?	Where does love live?
Nie wiem	I don't know
Może w uśmiechu	Maybe in a smile
Czasem ją słychać	Sometimes I hear it in
W śpiewie	A song
A czasem	And sometimes
W echu	In an echo
Co to jest miłość?	What is love?
Powiedz	Tell me
Albo nic nie mów	Or maybe don't say anything
Ja chcę cię mieć	I want you to have you
Przy sobie	With me
I nie wiem	And I can't explain
Czemu	Why

Janusz Kofta