Architecture

By Zbigniew Herbert

Over a delicate arch—

an eyebrow of stone—

on the unruffled forehead

of a wall

in joyful and open windows

where there are faces instead of geraniums

where rigorous rectangles

border a dreaming perspective

where a stream awakened by an ornament

flows on a quiet field of surfaces

movement meets stillness a line meets a shout

trembling uncertainty simple clarity

you are there

architecture

art of fantasy and stone

there you reside beauty

over an arch

light as a sigh

on a wall

pale from altitude

and a window

tearful with a pane of glass

a fugitive from apparent forms

I proclaim your motionless dance