Two poems by Miroslav Holub

Napoleon Děti, kdy se narodil Napoleon Bonaparte, ptá se učitel. Před tisíci lety, říkají děti. Před sto lety, říkají děti. Loni, říkají děti. Nikdo neví. Děti, co udělal Napoleon Bonaparte, ptá se učitel. Vyhrál válku, říkají děti. Prohrál válku, říkají děti. Nikdo neví. U nás měl řezník psa, říká František, jmenoval se Napoleon. Řezník ho bil a pes umřel hlady před rokem. A všem dětem je ted líto Napoleona.	Napoleon Children, when was Napoleon Bonaparte born, asks the teacher. Thousand years ago, the children say. Hundred years ago, the children say. Last year, the children say. Nobody knows. Children, what did Napoleon Bonaparte do, asks the teacher. He won a battle, the children say. He lost a battle, the children say. Nobody knows. At us the butcher had a dog František says, he was called Napoleon. The butcher used to beat him, and the dog died of hunger last year. And now all the children feel sorry for Napoleon.
(1960)
Jdi a otevři dveře Jdi a otevři dveře. Třeba je tam venku Strom nebo les, Nebo zahrada, Nebo magické město. Jdi a otevři dveře. I kdyby tam byla jen tikající tma, i kdyby tam bylo jen duté vanutí i kdyby tam nic nebylo, jdi a otevři dveře. Jdi a otevři dveře. Třeba tam pes zaškrabe. Třeba je tam tvář, Nebo oko, Nebo obraz obrazu. Jdi a otevři dveře, Když je tam mlha, Spadne. Aspoň Průvan Bude.	Go and open the door Go and open the door. Perhaps outside there is a tree or a forest or a garden or an enchanted city. Go and open the door. If there was only the ticking darkness if there was only the empty wind or if there was absolutely nothing, go and open the door. Go and open the door. Perhaps a dog is scraping there. Perhaps a face is there, or an eye, or the image of an image. Go and open the door. If there is mist there it will clear away. If nothing else, a draught of air there will be.
(1962)

It is already ten years that Miroslav Holub has died. He was born in 1923, almost at the same time as my father. “By profession an immunologist, by vocation a poet”, as Kapuściński would say. From 1956 a founding member of the avantgarde circle and review Květen (May). I first met his enchanting poems at the beginning of the 90s in the little book and tea shop near to the Hussite Bethlehem Chapel of Prague, where they sold avantgarde publications in printed, stenciled and handwritten brochures as well as cheap Indian silk scarves and also a living parrot. Holub would have remained satisfied if he saw it. Perhaps he saw it indeed. In any case, he lived to see that his admirers in the observatory of České Budějovice officially gave his name to the asteroid no. 7496. discovered in 1997.