The Silence of Plants

Jason Allen-Paisant reads 'The Silence of Plants' by Wislawa Szymborska. Part of our series of poetry films in collaboration with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation. The film is directed by Rob Akin.

5th June 2025

The Silence of Plants
by Wislawa Szymborska, translation by Joanna Trzeciak, read by Jason Allen-Paisant

A one-sided relationship is developing quite well between you and me.

I know what a leaf, petal, kernel, cone, and stem are,

and I know what happens to you in April and December.
Though my curiosity is unrequited,

I gladly stoop for some of you,

and for others I crane my neck.
I have names for you:

maple, burdock, liverwort,

heather, juniper, mistletoe, and forget-me-not;

but you have none for me.
After all, we share a common journey.

When traveling together, it’s normal to talk,

exchanging remarks, say, about the weather,

or about the stations flashing past.
We wouldn’t run out of topics

for so much connects us.

The same star keeps us in reach.

We cast shadows according to the same laws.

Both of us at least try to know something, each in our own way,

and even in what we don’t know

there lies a resemblance.
Just ask and I will explain as best I can:

what it is to see through my eyes,

why my heart beats,

and how come my body is unrooted.
But how does someone answer questions

which have never been posed,

and when, on top of that

the one who would answer

is such an utter nobody to you?
Undergrowth, shrubbery,

meadows, and rushes…

everything I say to you is a monologue,

and it is not you who’s listening.
A conversation with you is necessary

and impossible,

urgent in a hurried life

and postponed for never.
‘The Silence of Plants‘

from Miracle Fair by Wislawa Szymborska, translation by Joanna Trzeciak

Reproduced with permission by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. ©2001 Joanna Trzeciak