Love Is A Fragment

                                                           

         

                                                          

         Wislawa Szymborska was the winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature. Her Miracle Fair is a selection of her poems, which have been brilliantly translated into English by Joanna Trzeciak. I especially appreciate Trzeciak because her intelligence makes these poems a joy to read for non-Polish speakers. Szymborska wrote about ordinary things in life with miraculous touch. For example, it’s amazing how Szymborska turns a sequence of random numbers into a beautiful poem with her subtle thoughts. I wish I could have read the poem, “Pi” earlier, so I could have used it in my study of math. The imagery of “The longest snake on earth ends at thirty-odd feet” (117) not only transforms math into an artful subject, but also relates to any subject you can think of. One of the six themes in Miracle Fair is about love in which the poet turns the intractable feelings into the art of language. Szymborska’s poems are so impeccable that they have the power to draw you back to read them again and again to get the unsettling yet gentle direction (The New Republic), as the beginning of the poem “Love at First Sight”: “They are sure that a sudden feeling united them…Not altogether ready to turn into their fate…” (30). Is love a feeling? Is love considered our fate? The poem makes us think that sometimes there is such a thing as destiny. However, I don’t believe in predestination. Love at first sight is a fragment in our life as Szymborska says at the end of the poem, “the book of events is always open in the middle” (31).

                                                                                                                                               

          Our life is composed of a series of fragments. Love is a fragment. Most people are mentally stupefied when they fall in love. They worry about their uncertain relationship in the future, but the future is an unknown for everyone. Therefore, they tend to claim that it’s their destiny. The first fragment in our life is our birth, followed by childhood, the teenage years, and adulthood. The final fragment of our life is death. During those major life fragments, there can be many other fragments, including love, lost love, marriage, divorce, child birth, and fragments related to education and careers. Put these fragments all together, we have the story of a life. What is love at first sight? It is either sexual attraction or familiarity between two people. Love at first sight can be either lust at first sight or can be something that over time becomes a long term relationship. Therefore, love at first sight is one of the fragments in our life, as Szymborska indicates in her poem:

                         maybe face to face once

                         in a revolving door?

                         an "excuse me" in a tight crowd?

                         a "wrong number" heard over the phone? (30)

Those are all fragments that made up our life.

          I’ve always treasured reading poetry even though I don’t understand it most of the time; yet, the beauty and the rhythm of the words allow my imagination to run through the fragment moments. I was reading “A Dream” last night. The words are so charming that I read it out loud on the patio with my heart filled with joy. What is it about? A fantastic dream? Was it a memory, an illusion, or the anticipation of a marriage? Someone died? I read it again. Um… It’s a dream. I was lingering between the lines...

                          The moon opens up its four-phased fan,

                          snowflakes swirl along with butterflies

                          and fruit falls from a blossoming tree… (21)

I read it again. My tears were flowing down my cheeks for

                          My dead-in-battle, my turned-to-ashes, my earth,

                          taking the shape he has in the photograph:

                          leaf's shadow on his face, seashell in hand,

                          he marches unto my dream. (21)

What a forlorn but uncanny way she describes love as a fragment of our life.

          What is a fragment? A fragment is an incomplete part. What is love? Love is nothing but a fragment as Szymborska’s poem “A Dream,” which touches you so deeply that you tear up and there is no way you can escape when it hits you. On the other hand, you will wake up eventually. Love at first sight, is it possible? Does love happen when you make it happen? Maybe the poem knows more about love than us.

                        Every beginning, after all,

                        is nothing but a sequel,

                        and the book of events

                        is always open in the middle. (31)

Reading this poem makes me realize that life is a book opening in the middle, and love is a sentence or a fragment of a whole. Our life is composed of a series of fragments. Love is a fragment of our life. Love emerges and vanishes unexpectedly in the middle of our journey through life only to reemerge again. (823 words)

A million thanks to Stephanie for taking her time to proofread for me.