Song of a Citizen

Czeslaw Milosz 1943

“Song of a Citizen” is a poem by the Nobel Prize-winning poet, Czeslaw Milosz. It was written in 1943, during the German occupation of Warsaw and was published in Polish in Milosz’s collection Ocalenie(English translation, Rescue) in 1945. However, the poem was unavailable in English until 1973, when it appeared in Milosz’s Selected Poems in a translation by the author.

The context of the poem is the enormous social and political upheaval that Milosz has witnessed during his lifetime and the continuing world war in which thousands are dying. And yet even in the midst of all this horror, the poet affirms that it is better to be alive than dead. He seeks a respite from the dark realities that surround him by thinking of the eternal phenomena of nature and the formulae of mathematics. He also recalls times when he seemed to be able to penetrate the mystery of things, and the poem brightens with sensuous imagery and Arcadian visions. But “Song of a Citizen” ends on a strong note of regret, as the poet acknowledges that he may never be able to realize his dreams. He questions God as to why his life has been so full of suffering and who is to blame for it, but he finds no answers.