Jacek Kaczmarski - Autoportret Witkacego

Self-Portrait of Witkacy

I look at the world out of habit
So not up to drugs
I’ve got the red eyes of a guinea pig
I’ve just risen from the table
So not up to fatigue
I am as tied-lipped as an esurient Mongol

I listen to the sounds not words
So not up to insanity
I’ve got big ears of a whistle-blower
Everywhere I smell the bandits
So not up to flavour
I’ve got a typical nose for a hurt Semite

I see the shape of things in its essential sense
And that makes me great, and the only one
In contrast to You, that, may I be excused
You are a poem of idiot, printed on duplicator

I am pretty stiff-necked
And that’s why I’m still livin’
Politics for me, are just swill in the crystal
My mind is as hard as my elbows
So don’t kick me for that
The revolution for me is just red-painted nails

I’m as sensitive as a membrane
So during night- and daytime
I am trembling like spleen ripped from an eel
I’m scared of world’s destruction
So, to improve the mood
I’m shouting like child locked in a dark room

I, even more then You, am gagging and choking
I, even more then You, don’t want to live but have to
But I won't let anyone touch me, and that’s why
When the time comes I alone will take Witkacy from this world