The End and the Beginning
Wislawa Szymborska


After every war
someone has to clean up.
Things won't
straighten themselves up, after all.

Someone has to push the rubble
to the side of the road,
so the corpse-filled wagons
can pass.

Someone has to get mired
in scum and ashes,
sofa springs,
splintered glass,
and bloody rags.

Someone has to drag in a girder
to prop up a wall,
Someone has to glaze a window,
rehang a door.

Photogenic it's not,
and takes years.
All the cameras have left
for another war.

We'll need the bridges back,
and new railway stations.
Sleeves will go ragged
from rolling them up.

Someone, broom in hand,
still recalls the way it was.
Someone else listens
and nods with unsevered head.
But already there are those nearby
starting to mill about
who will find it dull.

From out of the bushes
sometimes someone still unearths
rusted-out arguments
and carries them to the garbage pile.

Those who knew
what was going on here
must make way for
those who know little.
And less than little.
And finally as little as nothing.

In the grass that has overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out
blade of grass in his mouth
gazing at the clouds.


This poem must be based on events that happened in Wislawa Szymborska's life. She writes as if she has first hand knowledge on this subject and actually knows what it is like to recover from war. This poem very easily could have been written to help her vent her frustrations of the war. It is obvious she is bitter because she says how new people come in and think they know what happened there, but really they are just clueless. This poem is very effective at portraying the views of the people who feel that they have been cheated out of something, such as their land.


In this poem Wislawa Szymborska uses first hand knowledge to add emotion to her poem. Whenever you can add first hand knowledge into something you can always make it more meaningful. In this case she states how the people who are left in rubble must fix it themselves while staying out of the way "those who know little" of that place. It is effective because it adds real emotion into the story which makes the reader feel sympathetic towards her, but also feel disgusted by those who would come in and try to take over something that was once good. By using her first hand experiences she has added a feeling of real emotion into her poem, which is able to make readers better connect with the poem