Czas dziękować i ruszać dalej… Rozstaje wdzięczności Serhija Żadana
“Time to Say Thanks and Move On”… Serhiy Zhadan’s Crossroads of Gratitude

Summary/Abstract: Time to shut gates and windows. – Time to reminisce. – Time to foresee. – Time to feel “the damp smoke of departure”. – Time to share the remains of bread. – Time to move on. – Time to say thank you to: the brightness of hills, birds in attics, those holding doors while the dead are being carried out, visitors of the ill in empty houses. – Time to appreciate the potential of language. – Time to recall rhymes. – Time to speak and time to die. – Time of singing. – Voice of anger. – Voice of gratitude. The author of this article listens to the crossroads of gratitude in the poetic voice of Serhiy Zhadan. And in his war chronicle: “The only thing that remains unaltered is our memory. And our gratitude”. The voice of Serhiy Zhadan is one of the most recognisable voices of Ukraine at war. It does not vanish even when the poet seeks words and is incapable of regaining them so as to return to writing poetry. After 24 February 2022 he was for a longer time unable to write a single word, maintaining that words no longer came to him and although he is certain that the voice of his poetry will change he does not know how it will do so. On the other hand, his voice never abandoned him. Then words returned. The first poem – Perhaps now it is worth starting… – was written on 15 June 2022. Zhadan thus began as if from the very beginning and his voice regained words. A new poem appeared on 4 June 2023: “Perhaps now it is worth speaking […] / And there is no silence – / Only our fear to speak …”. A year separated the verses: “Perhaps now it is worth starting…” and “Perhaps now it is worth speaking…”. And there is no distance between them. Serhiy Zhadan is beginning to speak and does so despite the war. The voice of his poems does not become that of hatred. It remains the voice of gratitude. Also gratitude for the worlds of Schulz, which do not cause trauma. And for those whom he happened to meet in the night-time streets of Drohobych and whom he now recognises by the way they walk and breathe. A simple humane: “Thank you for your love, dear brothers and sisters!”.

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