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Wednesday 23 September 2015

Beyond the Numbers: Wislawa Szymborska: A Word on Statistics / Bálint Pörneczi: At the Hungarian border, Röszke

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Buthena, háziasszony Odeivel és Tammal, Szíria, Damaszkusz #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi
 
Buthena, housewife, Odell Tam, Damascus, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Wislawa Szymborska: A Word on Statistics

Out of every hundred people,

those who always know better:
fifty-two.


Unsure of every step:
almost all the rest.


Ready to help,
if it doesn't take long:
forty-nine.


Always good,
because they cannot be otherwise:
four -- well, maybe five.


Able to admire without envy:
eighteen.


Led to error
by youth (which passes):
sixty, plus or minus.


Those not to be messed with:
four-and-forty.


Living in constant fear
of someone or something:
seventy-seven.


Capable of happiness:
twenty-some-odd at most.


Harmless alone,
turning savage in crowds:
more than half, for sure.


Cruel
when forced by circumstances:
it's better not to know,
not even approximately.


Wise in hindsight:
not many more
than wise in foresight.


Getting nothing out of life except things:
thirty
(though I would like to be wrong).


Balled up in pain
and without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three, sooner or later.


Those who are just:
quite a few, thirty-five.


But if it takes effort to understand:
three.


Worthy of empathy:
ninety-nine.

 
Mortal:
one hundred out of one hundred --
a figure that has never varied yet.


Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012): A Word on Statistics, translated from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak, 1997


Buthena, háziasszony Odeivel és Tammal, Szíria, Damaszkusz #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Buthena, housewife, Odell Tam, Damascus, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Khaled and Fahed Damascus, Szíria #horgos #serbia #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Khaled and Fahed, Damascus, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015
 
Khaled and Fahed Damascus, Szíria #horgos #serbia #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Khaled and Fahed, Damascus, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015
 

Aziz, nyugdíjas az afganisztáni Kandaharból #budapest #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Aziz, retired, Kandahar, Afghanistan: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Zeineb, kilenc hónapos terhes Al-quamishli, Szíria #horgos #serbia #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Zeineb, nine months pregnant, Al-Quamishli, Syria
: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Zeineb, kilenc hónapos terhes Al-quamishli, Szíria #horgos #serbia #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Zeineb, nine months pregnant, Al-Quamishli, Syria
: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015
 
Mohamed Daraa, Szíria #horgos #serbia #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Mohamed, Daraa, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Helin Hafrin, Szíria #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi 
Helin, Hafrin, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015
 
Helin Hafrin, Szíria #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi 

Helin, Hafrin, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015  


Husszein, szövőfiú, Kabul, Afganisztán #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi
 
Hussein, szövőfiú, Kabul, Afghanistan: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015
 
Holut, óvónéni gyermekeivel, Sam, Szíria #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Holum, teacher, Sam, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015


Holut, óvónéni gyermekeivel, Sam, Szíria #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Holum, teacher, Sam, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Omar kereskedő, Zeinával és Faizával, Deir ez-zor, Szíria #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Omar, Deir ez Zor, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Amer, könyvszerkesztő, Szíria, Beit Sahm #szeged-szentmihaly #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Amer, book editor, Beit Sahm, Syria: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Ferenc, nyugdíjas fodrász #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi
 
Francis, retired hairdresser: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Klara, humanitárius, Köln, Németország #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]
 
Klara, humanitarian, Cologne, Germany: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015
 
Vivien, a „béke lángjának” nagykövete #röszke #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Vivien, ambassador of the "flame of peace": photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Nicolas, operatőr #serbia #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Nicolas, cameraman: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015
 
Rózsika, a szegedi textilgyár nyugdíjas adminisztrátora és kutyája, Picur  #szeged #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi

Rózsika, retired textile mill administrator from Szeged, with pet dog Picur: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Árpád, volt határőr ezredes  #sopron #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi
 
Arpad, colonel of the border guard at Röszke: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

Árpád, volt határőr ezredes  #sopron #hungary #series #portrait #[NEUS]. #balintporneczi
 
Arpad, colonel of the border guard at Röszke: photo by Bálint Pörneczi via mno, 21 September 2015

6 comments:

billoo said...

Tom, I know this isn't related to your post-so please forgive me- but I wanted to send it to you. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/bringing-guantanamo-to-park-avenue

Barry Taylor said...

This is a beautiful and moving post, Tom. These days Szymborska's sanity and clarity feel more and more of an essential resource, and Porneczi (completely new to me) matches her. Unflinching compassion, without a shred of sentimentality, in both.

tpw said...

These photographs are so rich and full of depth, and Szymborska's math adds up, as always. Thanks, Tom.

Sandra said...

thoughtful words ...intriguing are the numbers she declares

Bandasea said...

"All is damp, and heavy.
Mildew draws a map
Of misery's regions.
And there, on the dry meadows,
Rags and paper litter
The ragged, papery grass.
How they would whirl and fly!
They stir, but inertia holds them.

Night, your sluggish breeze
Is a flapping of soiled sheets.
Like frayed muslin to cord
You cling to the old sky,
As wretchedness clings to life.
Night of the poor, be my coal,
Smoulder here on my heart,
Melt the iron in me, to make
An anvil that never will split,
A hammer that clangs and glints,
A smooth blade for victory, night!

Grave this night is, and heavy.
I too shall sleep now, my brothers.
May our souls not be smothered by want.
Nor our bodies be bitten by vermin."

--Attila Jozef, Hungarian poet (from poem, "Night on the Outskirts" -- 1932
-- translated by Michael Hamburger)

earths mix and humanity is left on the rim colliding--

TC said...

Many, many thanks to all.

Bandasea, your suggestion is quite apt.

Attila József's brief, difficult life was indeed largely spent in this same landscape, a patch of the earth with a long history of sorrows.

The rest of that poem from which you've quoted, as well as two others, may now be found here.