Cirrus@Austlit

A poem purportedly written by a small-town former Polish Communist Party member who, unhappy with the fall of Communism in Poland, plans to sail to Pauline Hanson's Australia, in the belief that Hanson will, like the Polish Communist government, 'look after the people'.

The poem praises an unnamed newspaper editor living in Melbourne, who is supposedly extraordinarily open-minded, truthful and tolerant. An example of his virtue as an editor is that he prints all the letters sent to his newspaper. The poem ends with a two-line coda which erases the image of perfection presented earlier: 'Ale że jestem sceptyk, niech lepiej te słowa/Czytelnik, jak Krasicki, między bajki schowa.' [As I am a sceptic, the Reader had better, like Krasicki, treat these words of mine as a fairy tale.] (Ignacy Krasicki was an 18th century Polish author who wrote a famous collection of fables.)

The poem's speaker affirms that she wishes to write simple poetry, but that theatrical gestures keep intruding into her work.

The poem's speaker professes love for trees, animals, nature and manmade things such as 'ships', 'cafes' and 'buttons', but ends with an admission that she feels 'żal' (a Polish word meaning a strong sense of grievance) towards people.