Song of a citizen
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Song of a Citizen is the controversial poem written by Czeslaw Milosz. The poem, which was originally written in Polish, has two different English translations. The more popular, and somewhat more controversial version titled "Song of an IB Student" reads as follows:
Song of an IB Student
A pencil from the depths that has witnessed the eraser wearing down and a million white pieces of paper crumpled in agony, I, poor student, see a multitude of over-achieving losers without freedom. I see the teacher feeding on their test
I have seen the fall of Grades and the perdition of notes, the flight of students and teachers, the power of class rankings. I can say now, in this hour, that I-B, while everything expires, that it is better to be a live IB student then a dead AP student, as the IB Syllabus says.
A poor student, sitting at a cold desk, closing my eyelids, I sigh and think of a starry sky, of non-Euclidean geometry, of amoebas and their ecosystem, of tall mounds of make up work.
When studying, I am asleep, when sleeping, I dream of studying, tired and filled with boredom, I run. on ceiling squares lifted up by the failing walls, beneath other class rooms of fact-filled minds, I deal in caffeine and energy bars.
And yet so often I near, I reached into the heart of test, the soul of essays, of quizzes, of worksheets. And the passing grade unveiled its face as the back of the book reveals itself, serene, mirrored by answers. Lustrous calculator-holding students greeted me that disappear as soon as FCAT comes
And so near, just outside the window-the emergency exit where a tiny homework assignment and a quiz are equal to test, where a wondering hand flares up like Saturn, and, close by, the teacher sips from a green cup in Psychology class.
This I wanted and nothing more. In my later years like old IB students to stand before the face of my diploma, and recognize it and reconcile it with my work built up, a forest citadel on a river of shifting internal assessments and brief extended essays.
This I wanted and nothing more. So who is guilty? Who deprived me of my youth and my ripe years, seasoned my best years with horror? Who, who ever is to blame, besides my parents, O God?
And I can only think about the starry sky, about the tall mound of make up work.
[edit] Criticism of "Song of an IB Student
The most popular translation of Milosz's classic poem has received much criticism from scholars claiming that verb tenses, subjects, and implicit meaning are lost in the translation of the poem. Some point to the change in title, from "Song of a Citizen" to "Song of an IB Student" as a clear example. In 2005 things escalated to a new level, when Milosz's estate sued the translator of the poem. The lawsuit was dropped in an out of court settlement for a disclosed, but unknown, sum.
