ECCE HOMO
Every thing that is
our strength
is also our weakness
everything carries within itself
the stigma of its opposite sign
like a number tattooed on a prisoner's arm
like a letter sewn onto a deportee's coat
there's no escaping it
even if we were to walk at a certain pace
head held high
number and letter warn:
here is a victim of those clothed in wolves' skins
here branded by history
ecce homo
---Ryszard Kapuscinski
(translated from the Polish by Diana Kuprel and Marek Kusiba)
originally published in The New Yorker
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