Breughel’s Two Monkeys (Wislawa Szymborska)

Date August 26, 2008

“Breughel’s Two Monkeys”

This is what I see in my dreams about final exams:
two monkeys, chained to the floor, sit on the windowsill,
the sky behind them flutters,
the sea is taking a bath.

The exam is History of Mankind.
I stammer and hedge.

One monkey stares and listens with mocking disdain,
the other seems to be dreaming away–
but when it’s clear I don’t know what to say
he prompts me with a gentle
clinking of his chain.

–Wislawa Szymborska
from Poems New and Collected

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