Drzewo Genealogiczne [English translation]

My lineage doesn’t reach the amber trade route,

My pre-rat didn’t feast on Popiel held captive

And when not in one day Krakow was built

My bloodline lacked a representative.

Were they at Grunwald – silent are chronicles,

they were eaten alive If they took Moscow

I lack grandfathers in the main stream of events

To put as an example pro publico bono.

But some ancestors (seeing my lips,

Of which epicurean cut is spoiled by false modesty)

Must enjoyed privilege by Saxonian Augusts

with Ciołek gladly exploring Venera's gardens.

Allegedly I'm related to a poet - soldier

who by Kościuszko's side looked to hang bishops and magnates;

Was it him from whom I took up Jacobinian indiscretions

And no respect for blood blue, purple robes?

Nobody talks about my clan during November Night

And I guess they didn't relieve January's patrols

None of mine came back from Siberia inhumanely light

To write down a book of their miseries.

But some cold French guardsman

found warmth in Lithuanian county,

And some Potock Tatar's eye gleamed

to a Proletaryat activist of the capital-city .

My family tree's offshoot

burned in the Ghetto and Uprising

or in post-war slime took root

and sprung a bud – briefly about him:

I went to church – to watch stained glass,

in commie school I scored all A's,

Since childhood I was hungry for experience and travels

unaware it was of bad good beginnings.

I've no scars from shackles, my foreskin's intact,

I was born in a cap, not under a turban roll;

After a decade in exile – I command Polish yet,

I implore then to certify, that I am a Pole

He's got no scars from shackles, his foreskin's intact,

He was born in a cap not under a turban roll;

After a decade of exile – he commands Polish yet,

He asks us to certify he is a Pole

• Artist:Jacek Kaczmarski
• Album:Sarmatia