Not the best of translations, but it gets the point all right
Zbigniew Herbert THE POWER OF TASTE For Professor Izydora Dambska It did not require great character at all our refusal disagreement and resistance we had a shred of necessary courage but fundamentally it was a matter of taste Yes taste in which there are fibers of soul the cartilage of conscience Who knows if we had been better and more attractively tempted sent rose-skinned women thin as a wafer or fantastic creatures from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch but what kind of hell was there at this time a wet pit the murderers' alley the barrack called a palace of justice a home-brewed Mephisto in a Lenin jacket sent Aurora's grandchildren out into the field boys with potato faces very ugly girls with red hands Indeed their rhetoric was made of cheap sacking (Marcus Tullius kept turning in his grave) chains of tautologies a couple of concepts like whips the dialectics of slaughterers no distinctions in reasoning syntax deprived of the beauty of the subjunctive So aesthetics can be helpful in life one should not neglect the study of beauty Before we declare our consent we must carefully examine the shape of the architecture the rhythm of the drums and pipes official colours the despicable ritual of funerals Our eyes and ears refused obedience the princes of our senses proudly chose exile It did not require great character at all we had a shred of necessary courage but fundamentally it was a matter of taste Yes taste that commands us to get out to make a wry face draw out a sneer even if for this must fall the precious capital of the body the head |