MIROSLAV HOLUB (Plzeň, September 13 1923 - July 14, 1998)
The Door
Go and open the door.
Maybe outside there’s
A tree, or a wood,
A garden,
Or a magic city.
Go and open the door.
Maybe a dog’s rummaging,
Maybe you’ll see a face,
or an eye,
or the picture
of a picture.
Go and open the door,
If there’s a fog
It will clear.
Go and open the door.
Even if there’s only
The darkness ticking,
Even if there’s only
The hollow wind,
even if
nothing
is there,
go and open the door.
at least
there’ll be
a draught.
Miroslav Holub was a Czech poet an immunologist. > His work was heavily influenced by his experiences as an Immunologist,writing many poems using his scientific knowledge to poetic effect. His work is almost always unrhymed, so lends itself easily to translation. It has been translated into more than 30 languages and is especially popular in the English-speaking world.