Anna Swir, “The Same Inside,” translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan, from Talking to My Body. English translation copyright © 1996 by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.

Walking to your place for a love feast

I saw at a street corner

an old beggar woman

I took her hand,

kissed her delicate cheek,

we talked, she was

the same inside as I am,

from the same kind,

I sensed this instantly

as a dog knows by scent

another dog.

I gave her money,

I could not part from her.

After all, one needs

someone who is close.

And then I no longer knew

why I was walking to your place.