TO NICODEMUS BIERNACKI

I shall tell you?it is up to prophets to recognize prophets: Behold, it was the enchanted princess who gave you the keys To the echo, and this broken piece of wood; And a tear and a whisper into the ear?and even thunder! . . . And she said while waving her black ribbon: "Go into the world, into that spectacle driven mad by emotions, Get a good look at the sunrise, get to know the reflection of fire, Experience the rainbows of the east and the splendor of the west, What it is permissible to lie about, you go and lie better than they, You, being alive?go and stir the colorless diorama . . . But?since you will betray this deception with the deception of art, May you first in the shade of the broad laurel, Whither the bent bows won't reach, Be an object of mockery or of neglect . . . Until another in the same place where the arrows will fall, Shall come to pick them up just as you gather up those of others: For a Great One will remember you more readily. And you will say: There's the truth'?and I shall wake up . . ."