Illyes, Gyula

Hungary, (1902-1983)

A WINTER MEMORY

  1. We ate you up, little pig.
  2. The luckless farmer stabbed you
  3.  
  4. in the throat while you squealed with joy
  5. as you heard his footsteps.
  6.  
  7. You danced behind the boards,
  8. yet the people cornered you;
  9.  
  10. they dragged you by the ears
  11. no matter how much you implored them.
  12.  
  13. Mother held your feet,
  14. she, who nursed you like her own son,
  15.  
  16. who fed you weeds and corn
  17. and scratched your back.
  18.  
  19. I heard your screams
  20. from under the warm quilts
  21.  
  22. and wept and plugged up my ears.
  23. Embraced my older brother.
  24.  
  25. I imagined all the horrors
  26. when it’s our turn!
  27.  
  28. But later I attended cheerfully
  29. the singeing of your skin,
  30.  
  31. watched the up-shooting flames
  32. and pulled your nails over my fingernails.
  33.  
  34. I chewed on your roasted, tiny tail
  35. under the smoke-laden, ash-filled sky.

 Gyula Illyes. TURMOIL IN HUNGARY: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Hungarian Poetry, Edited and Translated by Nicholas Kolumban. St. Paul, MN: New Rivers Press (1982).

About the Poet:

Gyula Illyes, Hungary, (1902-1983), poet, novelist, playwright, and dissident. He was a leading literary figure in Hungary during the 20th century and is considered one of the most eminent poets of contemporary Hungary. Besides poems, he wrote plays, essays, a sociological study on village life, a biography of the famous 19th century poet and revolutionary Sandor Petofi.

For many years He was the editor of Nyugat, the most prestigious literary magazine before World War II. Illyes was one of the so-called népi (“from the people”) writers, named so because they aimed to show – propelled by strong sociological interest and left-wing convictions – the disadvantageous conditions of their native land. He continued to express political, social and moral issues all through his life, but the main themes of his poetry remain love, life and death. His work has been translated into twelve languages. [DES-07/22]

 • Biographies here are short. Yet all the poets presented have fascinating lives. And they have created a bountiful trough of treasures beyond these works. Please root on about those you enjoy! I hope you find something informative, meaningful or that provokes your further contemplation.

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