Grażyna Szapołowska (Ewelina) and Aleksander Domogarow (Edmund). Press Photo. Copyright TVP
June Night: Of Love and Duty (1980)
By Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz
Translated from Polish by Magda Romanska
Polish poet, novelist, and playwright, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, was a complex figure with conflicted biography. Born in 1894, near Kyiv during the time of Russian Empire’s rule over the region, Iwaszkiewicz studied law at Kyiv University and traveled the world, before settling in Warsaw. During the World War II, he was a partisan fighter, participating in the Underground Army (Armia Krajowa), and sheltering, with his wife, their Jewish friends, and neighbors (for this, he was recognized with the Righteous Among the Nations distinction). After World War II, when Poland came under the Soviet regime, Iwaszkiewicz became part of the communist administrative infrastructure, chairing the Polish Writer’s Union, which was subject to the Communist Party of Poland. He died in 1980, only a year before the government instituted a Martial Law, triggering the countrywide Solidarity movement. Although in its obituary, The New York Times, called him “leading writer in Poland,” Iwaszkiewicz was mostly forgotten in Poland.[1] After the 1989 Fall of the Berlin wall, many began considering him a Soviet sympathizer, and his works fell out of favor with Polish intelligentsia. Nonetheless, nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature four times during his lifetime, Iwaszkiewicz was an influential figure of the Polish literary world, and eventually, both Nobel-winning writer, Czesław Miłosz and Oscar-winning director, Andrzej Wajda called on reevaluation of Iwaszkiewicz’s works and his status in the landscape of Polish literature. As a result, in recent years, his impact and literary accomplishments have received increased recognition.[2]
Iwaszkiewicz was a writer and playwright, who also adapted many of his prose works to stage. The dramatic version of June Night, adapted shortly before his death, was based on his novella of the same title[3], and it was specially prepared for Andrzej Wajda, who directed in it 2002. This was not Wajda’s first encounter with Iwaszkiewicz’s work. In 1979, he made a film version of The Birch Wood (Brzezina), and in 1979, also the film version of The Maids of Wilko (Panny z Wilka), which was nominated for Oscar in the category of foreign film. The stage version of June Night was filmed for the Polish Television Theatre, and following Iwaszkiewicz’s death, in addition to Wajda, two other screenwriters contributed to the adaptation, Andrzej Domalik and Zbigniew Kamiński. This translation is of that final film version adapted and directed by Wajda, and his collaborators. Since it was filmed and directed by Wajda with Iwaszkiewicz’s approval, it should be considered the definitive version of the adaptation. This translation was commissioned by the Polish Institute in New York a couple of years ago for the retrospective of Wajda’s films and is published here with their permission.[4]
Set in 1863, after the failed January Uprising, Iwaszkiewicz’s novella was based on real life figure of Jonna Moszyńska who fell in love with a Tzarist officer and married him instead of following her husband, Piotr Moszyński to Siberia. The story takes place in the area of Podole, current territory of Ukraine, back then part of Polish region under Russian occupation, following the hundred years of partition. The novella was part of Iwaszkiewicz’s trilogy which focused on the January Upraising, and which also included two other stories, Zarudzie, and Heydernreich. The January Uprising was one of many failed attempts to regain independence from Russia, and its participants were harshly punished, with death or exile to labor camps in Siberia. Although we never see him, the novella focuses on one such participant, Peter, who is about to be sent to Siberia, and on his wife, Countess Ewelina, who is obliged, by the current standards of the patriotic wifely duty, to follow him. Polish wives who do not follow their Polish husbands to Siberia are shunned by other local Polish estates, so the price of not complying with the marital duty is permanent social ostracism. Ewelina’s choice is additionally complicated by her ambivalent feelings towards her husband whom she does not appear to love. Their marriage was an arranged business transaction, and she does not understand or care for her husband’s patriotic fervor.
We meet her during the night before her obligatory departure. While she is unable to decide whether to go or stay, the servants and her aunt Daniela conspire to prevent the voyage. Their motives are mostly self-centered: they are worried about the estate and their own futures without the Countess to manage it. In addition, she is to leave her young daughter, Mary, behind, alone under the care of the governess. The Countess’s estate has been spared from confiscation, despite her husband’s subversive activities, due to her family being distantly related to the Romanovs. The estate has many characters, including young Polish-Ukrainian officer serving in Russian army, Edmund, who minds the horses. Knowing Edmund’s quiet affection for Ewelina, Aunt Daniela and the servants encourage him to convince her to stay. Edmund does, and the novella ends with him calling from the window of Ewelina’s bedroom on the stable hands to bring back the horses. The Countness is not going to Siberia.
The stage adaptation of the novella adds a second act, which takes place twenty years later.[5] Peter returns from Siberia finding Ewelina alone on the estate. They divorced and Ewelina married Edmund, but their happiness lasted a short time. He leaves her alone and she spends her days lost in solitude, feeding local swans. Her daughter also does not visit, and Ewelina’s life appears to be void of meaning and purpose. Peter, on the other hand, though physically ruined by the harsh labor, seems to be psychologically intact; his continuous commitment to the cause of Polish freedom giving him and his life and suffering a unfaltering purpose.
The story illustrates the difficulty of sacrificing one’s personal happiness for the welfare and freedom of the nation, but also, as critic Grzegorz Głąb (2014) pointed out, the fundamental impossibility for one individual to alter the flow of history, a kind tragic irrelevance of the ethical choices we make in the face of life and death historical upheaval.[6] The story also illustrates the convoluted nature of the society under Russian occupation, with some, who like Edmund chose to collaborate with Russians by joining their army and others, like Peter, who throw away their lives in what can be viewed as naïve and hopeless struggle.[7] Wajda’s adaptation and direction illustrates his profound understanding of the complexities of such choices, the fundamental conflict between the self and society and the questions we all grapple with: What do we owe to others? What do we owe to ourselves? What are the lines we cannot cross?
Magda Romanska is Professor of Performing Arts at Emerson College, Boston, MA, Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, and a Principal Researcher at metaLAB (at) Harvard. She is the author or editor of five critically acclaimed scholarly books, including The Post-traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and Kantor (2012); TheaterMachine: Tadeusz Kantor in Context (2020); Reader in Comedy: An Anthology of Theory and Criticism (2016); and The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy. She translated five plays from Polish of Boguslaw Schaeffer, and published, Boguslaw Schaeffer: An Anthology (2012). Romanska’s scholarly research has received awards from the Polish Studies Association and the American Society for Theatre Research. As a playwright, she is a recipient of the MacDowell Fellowship, the Mass Council Artist Fellowship for Dramatic Writing, the Apothetae and Lark Theatre Playwriting Fellowship from the Time Warner Foundation, and PAHA Creative Arts Prize. She has taught at Harvard University, Yale School of Drama, and Cornell University.
June Night
Written by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz
Adapted for Television by:
Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz
Andrzej Wajda
Zbigniew Kaminski
Andrzej Domalik
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Translated by Magda Romanska
Year 1864
Poland has been partitioned since 1795 between Russia, Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1864, the January uprising has been quashed. Russians punished many Polish patriots, sending them to Siberia. Among them was Peter, Ewelina’s husband. At that time, it was a wife’s duty to follow her husband.
SOLDIERS
/singing in Russian/
Down the country path, three pine trees grow,
My beloved said goodbye to me, see you next spring,
She swore to God she loves only me,
And when I’m far away, in other lands, she’ll never forget me.
SCENE ONE
PRIEST
Let us all pray so that God has you in his care during your travels, dear Countess. Let us pray that God watches over those who are there already . . . and those who are no longer . . .
ALL
Oh Lord, dear Lord, have mercy on us. Oh, Lord, watch over us . . .
PRIEST
From air, hunger, fire and war, save us Lord. God in heaven, oh Lord, have mercy on us . . .
From sudden and untimely death, save us Lord. We, the sinners, beg you, hear our prayers, oh Lord.
ALL
Have mercy on us, oh Lord.
EWELINA
Thank you all for coming here to say goodbye.
WOMAN
/giving Ewelina a letter/
I don’t know where my husband is, but if the Countess meets him sometime maybe, please, give him this letter and tell him that . . . I love him very much. . . . and we’re waiting for him.
EWELINA
I’ll do everything I can to find him.
BOY
And please, tell him that not all is yet lost. . . . We will keep on fighting . . . like they did.
EWELINA
I’ll tell him. I promise.
BOY
Thank you.
PRIEST
May God be with you, Countess. Please, pass these holy pictures to them.
What am I? A poor priest, what more can I do . . .
EWELINA
Thank you. I am sure the pictures will bring them solace.
OLD WOMAN
Dear Ewelina, when I think about your poor husband, these words of the poet come to my mind:
/opens the book and reads/
‘This hand and this head will stay in my mind’s eye,
And they’ll stay in my thoughts – and in my life’s path
Like a compass, they’ll show me the way to true virtue:
And if I forget about them, you God in heaven, please,
Forget about me.’
KUKULUSIA
Oh, what a horrible journey you have to undertake, Ewelina!
CHWALIBOG
Why ‘have to’? She wants to.
AUNT DANIELA
Don’t tell us you don’t know why.
KUKULUSIA
Has to. Her husband was sent to Siberia. Loving wives follow their husbands.
FLORENTYNA
Why can’t she just stay home?
CHWALIBOG
Miss Florentina, you are a foreigner. You can never understand it. It is a wife’s responsibility to stand by her husband. She is following her husband. ‘Until death do us part’ – she swore it.
FLORENTYNA
Ridiculous promise.
CHWALIBOG
Miss Florentina, Ewelina is not just a Catholic. She is also a Pole. I can’t imagine what her social position would be if she didn’t follow in Count Peter’s footsteps. He’s her husband.
KUKULUSIA
It will be hard for the Countess to leave her household.
EWELINA
Miss Florentina, please take Mary with you.
FLORENTYNA
/in French/
Please, repeat after me. . . .
SCENE TWO
/Mary and Florentine study French/
FLORENTYNA
Let ’s continue where we left off last time, ok?
MARY
Ok.
FLORENTYNA
Let us read. This is a magnificent text.
MARY
It is.
SOLDIERS
/singing in Russian/
Down the country path, three pine trees grow,
My beloved said goodbye to me, see you next spring,
She swore to God she loves only me,
And when I’m far away, in other lands, she’ll never forget me.
SCENE THREE
FLORENTYNA
The June day is almost over.
CHWALIBOG
The coach is just standing there. Why aren’t they loading it? The horses were supposed to walk ahead of you with the carriage. Are you all packed up?
FLORENTYNA
Yes. The baggage just needs to be taken outside. I don’t have a lot of things.
CHWALIBOG
I know what a woman’s ‘not a lot of things’ means. How many dresses alone? Twenty.
FLORENTYNA
Where from? Me? A poor servant.
CHWALIBOG
You came from France to make some money here. Or maybe you just collect everything in a stocking?
FLORENTYNA
Mr. Chwalibog, you always so cruelly joke with me.
CHWALIBOG
Do you think I don’t know what is going on?
FLORENTYNA
I feel really bad leaving like this, even farther away from my country. Now, Mary has only you to take care of her.
CHWALIBOG
There is Broncia, Kukulusia and Aunt Daniela. They’ll give her the best care possible.
They’re taking their time with those bags. The coach is still empty.
FLORENTYNA
Nothing strange in that. Countess Ewelina is sitting in her bedroom. Broncia is packing up her clothes and Ewelina is just sitting there and crying. It takes such a long time because they have to pack all of her warm clothing. You need to be ready for the Siberian winter.
CHWALIBOG
One good fur coat would be good enough. They won’t be so considerate of her over there as we are here.
FLORENTYNA
You’re cruel.
CHWALIBOG
A woman’s imagination is so limited. I don’t think the Countess is sufficiently prepared for the Siberian winter. She can’t even imagine what such a winter looks like. And she’s crying?
FLORENTYNA
Yes, she’s been crying all day. I don’t quite understand it. Isn’t this sacrifice too much for a husband who has no more life left for him . . .
CHWALIBOG
You see, Miss Florentine, Ewelina must feel very attached to Count Peter. You know how they got married? It was just an arrangment. When her family found him, he was already a widower, and they got married only so that Ewelina’s wealth would stay in the family.
FLORENTYNA
Is her wealth really that impressive?
CHWALIBOG
It’s vast. Russians didn’t confiscate it only because Ewelina is related to the Romanovs. And the name deal, well, at the end that didn’t turn out too well. They only have one daughter, who will herself get married soon enough. The Countess is under the care of the Tzar
FLORENTYNA
The Countess is under the care of the Tzar, and the husband is being send to Siberia.
CHWALIBOG
The sun is setting, and the bags are still not out.
FLORENTYNA
We have a whole night ahead of us. The Countess put off the trip until morning. Maybe that’s why she isn’t packed yet.
CHWALIBOG
Nights are short in June.
FLORENTYNA
But morning will be beautiful.
CHWALIBOG
What about the supper?
FLORENTYNA
It should be served soon. Mary should go to sleep earlier. I have to admit I drank a glass of champagne to cheer myself up before the trip.
CHWALIBOG
I’ll order the supper to be served. Phillip . . . Phillip. . . .
CHWALIBOG
Give me a bottle of champagne.
PHILLIP
There are none left, Sir.
CHWALIBOG
What do you mean, there are none left?
PHILLIP
Everything was drunk.
CHWALIBOG
Who drank it?
PHILLIP
Everybody, but nobody remembered to order new bottles. The last time we ordered it last year, from Berdyczow.
CHWALIBOG
But I saw a case myself.
SCENE FOUR
FLORENTYNA
We’ve seen each other today already. Day is almost coming to an end.
You look terrible, Lieutenant.
EDMUND
So, so.
FLORENTYNA
Cheer up. They’ll be bringing champagne shortly.
EDMUND
I don’t need such cheering up.
FLORENTYNA
Don’t tell me you don’t need to be cheered up.
EDMUND
I’m calm.
FLORENTYNA
I wish you were calmer and stronger. It would help Ewelina.
EDMUND
I don’t understand what are you trying to say.
FLORENTYNA
You don’t need to pretend. I understand everything.
EDMUND
There is nothing to understand here.
FLORENTYNA
Of course. You hide your feelings very well.
EDMUND
The Countess and I, we didn’t have any . . . explanations.
FLORENTYNA
Explanations? Do you really need explanations?
EDMUND
What are you talking about?
FLORENTYNA
Are explanations really necessary? One look should be enough.
EDMUND
It might be enough for you, but not for Ewelina. She doesn’t suspect anything.
FLORENTYNA
You think so? A woman’s heart suspects everything.
EDMUNDS
Not Ewelina’s.
FLORENTYNA
Ewelina is like any other woman.
EDMUND
She is going away. Going away to Siberia. Do you understand what that means?
FLORENTYNA
I understand it very well. I’m supposed to go there with her, but I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like.
EDMUND
You can’t imagine it. It’s unimaginable.
FLORENTYNA
You’ve put on your uniform, Lieutenant. What’s the occasion? I like you best when you’re sitting by the samovar in your black silk shirt.
EDMUND
Have you been watching me?
FLORENTYNA
I have. You look good.
EDMUND
Wearing a black shirt?
FLORENTYNA
A silk one, if I’m not mistaken.
EDMUND
You’re mistaken. It’s satin.
FLORENTYNA
With a black belt.
EDMUND
You noticed the belt as well.
FLORENTYNA
A braided one.
EDMUND
For naughty children.
FLORENTYNA
You’re joking. You sing with such a soft baritone. I love Russian songs.
EDMUND
Those are not Russian songs. They’re Ukrainian.
FLORENTYNE
Even better. They’re very beautiful.
EDMUND
It’s not nice to eavesdrop on someone without their knowledge.
FLORENTYNA
I’m not eavesdropping. I just pass by your place sometimes. I hear you singing then. You have a nice voice.
EDMUND
Sometimes I sing Polish songs.
FLORENTYNA
Patriotic ones?
EDMUND
Why are you so surprised? You say it with such irony.
FLORENTYNA
Not at all.
EDMUND
You treat me rather ironically, I must say.
FLORENTYNA
Me and irony? I can only pity you. You found yourself in difficult situation.
EDMUND
I’m afraid that your imagination draws for you this non-existent difficult situation. What difficult situation am I supposed to be in?
FLORENTYNA
You can answer it yourself.
EDMUND
Miss Florentine. Do you understand that I don’t have any situation here? I simply cannot have any situation here. What role can I have here in this grand house, me, who merely fulfills his soldierly duties.
FLORENTYNA
Aha, that’s called ‘acquisition.’
EDMUND
Yes. Acquisition.
FLORENTYNA
Don’t be mad at me.
EDMUND
I have to pick horses for our unit. I’m mad because they’ve picked me for this job.
FLORENTYNA
Why are you talking like that?
EDMUND
So you’d become touched by my helplessness.
FLORENTYNA
I’m not going to be touched by such things. I don’t like men like that.
EDMUND
And what kind of men do you like?
FLORENTYNA
Real ones.
SCENE FIVE
PHILLIP
There is one case left, but the Countess is taking it with her.
CHWALIBOG
What does the Countess need champagne for in Siberia?
PHILLIP
You think they don’t drink champagne over there? They drink it, they do.
CHWALIBOG
Philip, Miss Florentine is waiting.
PHILLIP
The French lady wants champagne, phew!
CHWALIBOG
She is accompanying the Countess to Siberia.
PHILLIP
No woman, no crying.
CHWALIBOG
Come on, Philip, you try some too.
PHILLIP
What am I to do with you?
KUKULUSIA
What’s going on?
PHILLIP
They’re asking for champagne.
KUKULUSIA
The Lieutenant is all dressed up in his best uniform. Champagne needs to be served.
PHILLIP
All right, all right, I’ll do it myself.
CHWALIBOG
Take one bottle to the corner room, and bring another one here.
KUKULUSIA
But Sir!
BRONCIA
My head is spinning.
CHWALIBOG
Is the Countess packed? We should start carrying out the bags.
BRONCIA
Nope. Nothing’s ready yet.
KUKULUSIA
We have a whole night ahead of us.
BRONCIA
June nights are short.
KUKULUSIA
Night brings good advice.
CHWALIBOG
And what advice is there left?
KUKULUSIA
You want to stay here all by yourself, don’t you?
CHALIBOG
What’s that to me!!!?
BRONCIA
She’s not packed yet. She ordered me to pack up everything, empty all of her closets and dressers, and then, she asked me to take it all out of the trunks and put it all back into the closets. Now, all of her trunks are empty.
CHWALIBOG
And the Countess?
BRONCIA
She is standing in her nightgown in front of the mirror and crying. Then, she powders her face so it doesn’t show that she was crying. She asked for little Mary to come over, and when the girl did, she didn’t let her in.
CHWALIBOG
Crying? Why?
BRONCIA
You’d be crying too if you had to leave everything and go away, so far, far away. What’s surprising in it?
PHILLIP
The Countess doesn’t have to. She wants to . . .
CHWALIBOG
The Countess thinks it is her sacred duty to follow her husband.
PHILLIP
Sacred duty to follow your husband . . . but so far, far away?
AUNT DANIELA
What is that? Looks like a war room?
CHWALIBOG
Why are you surprised? At such a moment, we need to discuss everything.
BRONCIA
Our mistress is abandoning us.
AUNT DANIELA
When does the Countess want to leave?
BRONCIA
She was going to leave in the evening, but now, she’s staying until daybreak.
PHILLIP
Thank God. At least the horses will get fed.
CHWALIBOG
She put off the trip a couple of times already.
AUNT DANIELA
She’s hesitating. Sure.
BRONCIA
She can’t decide.
PHILLIP
That’s not good.
CHWALIBOG
She’ll have to make the decision sometime.
AUNT DANIELA
I just hope she won’t regret her decision.
CHWALIBOG
The Countess never regrets anything.
AUNT DANIELA
She has a strong character. Maybe there is something she does regret.
CHWALIBOG
Well, she never shows it.
AUNT DANIELA
She can control herself. She was taught to do that from very early. She didn’t have an easy youth. Before they found her this husband.
CHWALIBOG
She’s the silent type.
BRONCIA
And when someone’s passing under her window, she is crying even louder.
AUNT DANIELA
And who can be passing there under her window?
BRONCIA
Who knows.
PHILLIP
The Lieutenant was passing by there.
AUNT DANIELA
Yes? Hmm. . . .
I would like to talk to you, Sir. Where is Miss Florentine?
CHWALIBOG
She’s in the corner room, with the Lieutenant.
AUNT DANIELA
I’d like to see that.
Bring them some of the champagne.
CHWALIBOG
Bring one bottle here.
BRONCIA
What? You don’t want it to cool first?
CHWALIBOG
They’ll drink it as it is. No time now for cooling.
AUNT DANIELA
Go, Broncia, and ask the Countess if she wants some champagne?
BRONCIA
She hasn’t eaten or drunk anything all day today. I won’t even bother asking.
AUNT DANIELA
She needs to eat something. . . . before the trip.
CHWALIBOG
You said it . . . you sound strange. You don’t believe that she wants to go?
Philip, grab the bottles. Where are they?
PHILLIP
There won’t be anything left for the Countess.
CHWALIBOG
I told you already, the Countess won’t need any champagne.
BRONCIA
Maybe the Countess won’t go.
AUNT DANIELA
That would be best.
CHWALIBOG
It seems that the decision has been made already.
BRONCIA
She might not go regardless.
CHWALIBOG
Do you have that champagne?
AUNT DANIELA
Stop it, with this champagne. All you talk about is champagne, as if that was the most important thing in the world now.
CHWALIBOG
Maybe it is the most important thing.
AUNT DANIELA
What an idea!
CHWALIBOG
Where are the bottles?
PHILLIP
Here. I have them here.
BRONCIA
He hid them for himself.
AUNT DANIELA
Shame on you.
PHILLIP
Here’s a bottle, and glasses. It looks nice.
BRONCIA
We have everything nice.
KUKULUSIA
Maybe even too nice for you.
AUNT DANIELA
Don’t argue you two.
BRONCIA
I’ll get the door.
AUNT DANIELA
What about supper?
KUKULUSIA
We won’t forget.
AUNT DANIELA
I don’t know if the Countess will come down to eat.
KUKULUSIA
I don’t think she will. She’s not thinking about food now.
AUNT DANIELA
True. She can’t think about food now.
SCENE SIX
CHWALIBOG
Can I?
EDMUND AND FLORENTYNA
Of course.
EDMUND
Miss Florentine will accompany Countess Ewelina on this journey?
FLORENTYNA
Yes, like a lady’s companion.
CHWALIBOG
In the worst-case scenario, you can always turn around. You’re under no obligation to accompany her on such a long and dangerous journey.
FLORENTYNA
There are no obligations, but how can I let her go all by herself? She’s still so young.
CHWALIBOG
You mean, she is young in spirit, because she is not that young in years.
EDMUND
She looks very young.
CHWALIBOG
We are all old and we’ll be getting older.
FLORENTYNA
Some are young their whole lives.
EDMUND
Like Countess Ewelina.
CHWALIBOG
Countess Ewelina!
EDMUND
Yes, her.
CHWALIBOG
You got quiet all of a sudden. Let’s drink to your trip.
EDMUND
Will the Countess come down?
CHWALIBOG
The Countess will not come down, I think.
FLORENTYNA
I’m not surprised.
CHWALIBOG
Let’s drink to your trip.
FLORENTYNA
The bubbles are all gone.
CHWALIBOG
It’s just a gesture. You don’t drink?
EDMUND
I’m hesitant.
FLORENTYNA
Why?
EDMUND
Maybe all this drinking is not needed. Feels like a funeral banquet.
FLORENTYNA
Funeral banquet? We drink to life.
CHWALIBOG
Not to death, to life.
EDMUND
One never knows.
FLORENTYNA
You think about death?
EDMUND
You should always be ready for . . . everything.
FLORENTYNA
For everything, but not for death. I still can’t believe in this trip.
EDMUND
Well, they gave you champagne to celebrate.
CHWALIBOG
It took a while to find it.
FLORENTYNA
I’ve never heard about drinking champagne to strengthen up.
CHWALIBOG
They give it sometimes to the dying.
FLORENTYNA
Maybe.
EDMUND
It might be your Slavic custom. I don’t know whether this drink can give you eternal life.
FLORENTYNE
Or whether it strengthens you in real life.
EDMUND
Supper won’t be served for another hour. I’ll go to my place for now.
FLORENTYNA
But you’ll be back later?
EDMUND
Of course.
FLORENTYNA
Come have supper with us.
EDMUND
At your orders, Miss.
CHWALIBOG
And why don’t you change? You look silly in this uniform.
SCENE SEVEN
CHWALIBOG
The Countess hesitates.
FLORENTYNA
It’s an important decision.
AUNT DANIELA
Give me some wine.
CHWALIBOG
We drank for good luck and a good journey. Drink with us.
AUNT DANIELA
I’m glad to find the two of you here. We need to discuss what to do.
CHWALIBOG
What is there to discuss?
FLORENTYNA
We don’t have any control over what will happen.
CHWALIBOG
No matter how much we discuss it, the decision has been made already.
AUNT DANIELA
Until the horses leave, any decision can be reversed.
FLORENTYNA
Who can reverse it?
AUNT DANIELA
If something needs to be done, the doer will be found.
CHWALIBOG
That’s a dangerous theory, Aunt Daniela.
AUNT DANIELA
That’s not a theory. That’s experience.
FLORENTYNA
Interesting.
AUNT DANIELA
Think about it. Imagine what will happen when the Countess Ewelina leaves. Who’ll stay? Little Mary, maybe Miss Florentine, or some other governess. Who is going to run the entire household? Who is going to order that we’re to be waited on like we have been so far? The changes can be very unpleasant . . .
FLORENTYNA
Indeed, but what can we do?
CHWALIBOG
What can we do? It may not be so bad.
AUNT DANIELA
We have to do everything we can so that she’ll stay.
AUNT DANIELA
You seem too eager to stay here all by yourself.
CHWALIBOG
You see it all too dark.
AUNT DANIELA
Possibly. She has to stay or we will all go bankrupt! I don’t want to go beg on the streets. Do you understand?
FLORENTYNA
Well enough.
AUNT DANIELA
Well. Who will speak with the Lieutenant then?
CHWALIBOG
With the Lieutenant?
AUNT DANIELA
Of course, with the Lieutenant.
FLORENTYNA
What an idea.
AUNT DANIELA
It all depends on him, and he’s so awkward, so inexperienced.
FLORENTYNA
But he’s handsome.
CHWALIBOG
He’s young.
AUNT DANIELA
Not so young. Just old enough to be led.
CHWALIBOG
Not too young, but inexperienced. He never was a player, doesn’t know what to do with a lady. He simply has no clue.
AUNT DANIELA
Someone needs to teach him. Miss Florentine! He needs to stop Ewelina. Otherwise – we all are doomed.
CHWALIBOG
Auntie, why don’t you talk to him.
AUNT DANIELA
That’s not my role. It must be a man, in manly conversation, man to man.
CHWALIBOG
But the affairs of the heart – those are women’s missions.
AUNT DANIELA
But I can’t do it.
CHWALIBOG
What about Miss Florentine?
SCENE EIGHT
AUNT DANIELA
We can’t let her leave. Just imagine, my dear Florentine, what will happen once she leaves. Who will give orders here? The servants and the maids? Can you imagine what it will look like? What will I do? Maybe they’ll throw me out on the street. That’s for sure. And what happens to you when you get back, after you take her up to Siberia? You’ll stay here? With little Mary, at the mercy of the servants?
FLORENTYNA
Yes, you’re right, Auntie.
The night is so warm.
AUNT DANIELA
A sense of duty requires that she go. But, tell me dear Florentine, what good does it do to anyone? Such duty can be ruinous to many.
FLORENTYNA
Ruinous?
AUNT DANIELA
Simply destructive. You don’t think it all will get ruined and destroyed? The house, the estate. And what about little Mary? And Ewelina’s life?
FLORENTYNA
Everything passes.
AUNT DANIELA
You’re right. That’s so à la mode, in poetry and all. Everything passes, my dear, everything passes . . .
FLORENTYNA
That’s so sad.
AUNT DANIELA
Of course. But I want to remind you that whatever passes may be either pleasant or unpleasant.
FLORENTYNA
Maybe so.
AUNT DANIELA
It’s better if what passes were pleasant, so that the memories at least are bright, like a lamp in the night.
FLORENTYNA
What are you talking about?
AUNT DANIELA
Maybe I said too much.
FLORENTYNA
Not at all.
AUNT DANIELA
Yes, everything passes, but whatever existence there is, it can vary. Why should we exist in poverty, when everything depends on one thing . . .
FLORENTYNA
What one thing?
AUNT DANIELA
One June night. Do you feel it, my dear Florentine, how the night envelops us? What a savory night.
FLORENTINA
It’s not quite dark yet.
/Edmund approaches/
FLORENTYNA
Wearing a black shirt, just the way I like him.
AUNT DANIELA
Go to him – tell him . . .
FLORENTYNA
What should I tell him?
AUNT DANIELA
Tell him everything. Tell him about love.
FLORENTYNA
About love? I don’t understand . . .
AUNT DANIELA
About love. He hasn’t yet heard a woman talking to him about love.
FLORENTYNA
Well, maybe I’ve never heard anyone talk to me about love. I don’t know how to talk about love.
AUNT DANIELA
A night of love. Tonight is St. John’s Night. You see yourself that tonight is ideal for dreams. You had some dreams in the past?
FLORENTYNA
Do I know?
AUNT DANIELA
Don’t be stupid. He had dreams too.
FLORENTYNA
A man’s dreams. . . .
AUNT DANIELA
And Ewelina is also stupid. She chose such a night to go, to leave her home, to say farewell to Edmund . . .
FLORENTYNA
But there is nothing between them.
AUNT DANIELA
Nothing? Nothing? You’re such a materialist, are you, like all of you French. You want them joined in bed right away? What about the law: ‘separated from bed and table.’ They were first joined by the table.
FLORENTYNA
I didn’t think of it.
AUNT DANIELA
Yes, of course. It was a table of love, not a bed of love. They don’t know themselves how much it meant that they were eating together, at the same table, day after day, for so many months.
FLORENTYNA
They talked about her husband, the martyr.
AUNT DANIELA
For Edmund, he wasn’t a martyr. He was a rebel. Edmund hated him on the spot. Oh yes, from the very first moment.
FLORENTYNA
But Edmund didn’t even know him.
AUNT DANIELA
It will be easier to talk him into it . . . talk him into . . .
FLORENTYNA
It may not be too difficult to talk him into Ewelina.
AUNT DANIELA
But my child, he himself doesn’t know anything. You know, my child, he does not understand himself yet. And certainly, he doesn’t know what he wants. He doesn’t seem to think that Ewelina’s decision is very patriotic. He’s wondering. But why does he wonder?
SCENE NINE
AUNT DANIELA
Why doesn’t the Lieutenant sit down with us.
EDMUND
Thank you.
Isn’t it such a shame that such a beautiful young lady doesn’t know how to ride horses.
MARY
I’m not a lady and I don’t like horses.
EDMUND
How can you not like horses?
AUNT DANIELA
Mary, why don’t you eat anything?
MARY
I can’t, Auntie.
AUNT DANIELA
Maybe just chicken soup? You need to be brave.
MARY
But, Auntie, Mr. Edmund also doesn’t eat anything.
FLORENTYNA
But, Mary, the Lieutenant is a grown-up man.
EDMUND
I’m not hungry.
FLORENTYNA
And I’m hungry all of a sudden.
CHWALIBOG
The Lieutenant won’t let go of the bottle though.
EDMUND
I have a strong head.
MARY
I would like to try it!
AUNT DANIELA
But Mary!
EDMUND
What do you mean?
CHALIBOG
You don’t mean strong as in resistant to wine.
MARY
I talk nonsense.
AUNT DANIELA
Indeed, my child.
EDMUND
Want some?
CHWALIBOG
Thank you.
AUNT DANIELA
/whispering to Florentine/
Don’t let him drink so much. It may weaken him.
FLORENTYNA
Weaken him? In what?
MARY
Tonight is the kind of night when everyone wants to do something stupid. Say something stupid.
EDMUND
Your hand is shaking.
CHWALIBOG
Well, such an evening, such a farewell.
AUNT DANIELA
Nothing unusual in that.
Poor child.
FLORENTYNA
Maybe that’s too much?
AUNT DANIELA
Maybe the Lieutenant is used to it, used to drowning all his sorrow in alcohol?
FLORENTYNA
You can’t really compare our small sorrows to the Lieutenant’s. The Lieutenant doesn’t care about our local sorrows here, or maybe even our national sorrows.
EDMUND
How do you know what I care about? You don’t know anything about me, anything about what’s inside me.
FLORENTYNA
I don’t know, and I’m not interested. The Lieutenant is free to think and feel whatever he wants to.
EDMUND
It’s very good to hear that we’re completely indifferent to each other.
FLORENTYNA
You’re not completely indifferent to me.
MARY
This heat is getting to everybody.
FLORENTYNA
I simply feel sorry for you.
CHWALIBOG
Lieutenant, the Countess wants to see you upstairs.
FLORENTYNA
You’re afraid!
/Edmund leaves/
CHWALIBOG
He changed his uniform, but didn’t take the spurs off.
SCENE TEN
PHILLIP
Are we going to burn the wreaths? It’s St. John’s Night!
BRONCIA
I have so much work, I don’t know where to start.
PHILLIP
But at night, when all of that is over . . .
BRONCIA
I don’t know what the majordomo will say . . .
PHILLIP
She’ll let us. She’s got a good heart.
BRONCIA
What does her good heart got to do with anything? The trunks need to be packed up . . . when the Countess finally makes a decision. Who will need to do all the work? Me . . . and that’s all that I’ll have.
PHILLIP
Oh, well . . . I’ll be waiting. . . .
BRONCIA
Philip can always wait . . . of course.
SCENE ELEVEN
AUNT DANIELA
My dear Florentine, you need to be patient, my dear. You learned nothing by living in this house?
FLORENTYNA
If I am to go with the Countess, I should know that ahead of time. Although I’m already packed up . . .
AUNT DANIELA
My dear, on such a long journey, you need to be prepared for anything. They didn’t teach you patience? And you don’t really know what’s that all about. When the Countess leaves, Chwalibog will be ruling here all by himself, disrespecting us left and right.
CHWALIBOG
God is watching.
AUNT DANIELA
And if she stays, that would mean something.
KUKULUSIA
I’m afraid that even if the Countess decides to stay, the social position of her estate will be much lowered. Everyone will condemn her decision. They will be afraid to be associated with a compromised household.
AUNT DANIELA
Eh. The night’s so warm.
SCENE TWELVE
EWELINA
I would like to say goodbye. I’m sorry I didn’t do it earlier, but I was so absorbed by this trip, I couldn’t put my thoughts together. I wanted to say goodbye and express my gratitude for the sensitivity you have shown in my house. I regret I can’t say ‘our house’ . . .
because you haven’t been here when my husband was still living with us.
EDMUND
I also regret it.
EWELINA
Please, believe me, I really appreciate your sensitivity and your good manners. Neither in words nor actions, you never hurt my feelings in any way.
EDMUND
But Countess! I did my best….
EWELINA
And those feelings of mine, they were very susceptible to be hurt, falling victim to some strange undefined waves . . .
EDMUND
Those strange, undefined waves ended with a very definitive decision.
EWELINA
Yes. I’m leaving.
EDMUND
I’m sorry to hear that . . . .
EWELINA
What can I do?
EDMUND
Please, Countess, believe me that I . . . honestly . . .
EWELINA
These aren’t just empty words. I was raised not to believe young officers . . .
EDMUND
Yes.
EWELINA
. . . and. . . – I have to admit – I never knew any young officers. They never stayed at my parents’ house, nor at our house. Of course, I had a distorted opinion of who they were. I’m very happy to welcome you in. . .
EDMUND
. . . and say farewell to me . . .
EWELINA
. . . . a decent man, who only shines with his knightly predispositions.
EDMUND
You shame me. I’m not deserving of such a good opinion.
EWELINA
Maybe. But for six months, you were in a very difficult situation, staying at the house of a woman who was neither married or widowed. More so, there was no man around to lean on and sometimes, it seemed to me like a great burden. You understand, if Mary was a boy, at her age, I would already feel like I have a manly shoulder to lean on.
EDMUND
That’s true.
EWELINA
But a girl still needs my care, and she’ll need it for a long time yet.
EDMUND
And you’re leaving her all alone?
EWELINA
The life circumstances require . . .
EDMUND
There is no other choice?
EWELINA
We, Poles, must sacrifice much on the altar of duty.
EDMUND
So you believe it is your sacred duty to follow your husband?
EWELINA
Yes, sacred.
EDMUND
Did you consult anyone about it?
EWELINA
Yes. I consulted my conscience.
EDMUND
Did you consult your heart as well?
EWELINA
Of course, my heart as well.
Would you like some tea?
We, Poles, when we fulfill our duty, we do it with joy – and we gain peace of mind.
EDMUND
Did you need peace of mind?
EWELINA
I don’t understand?
EDMUND
Was your mind not at peace before?
EWELINA
But of course!
EDMUND
And you couldn’t find balance?
EWELINA
It’s not difficult to understand. I wasn’t at all privy to Peter’s secrets. I didn’t know what his trips were all about.
EDMUND
He didn’t tell you anything?
EWELINA
He was traveling all the time.
EDMUND
So you weren’t his accomplice?
EWELINA
The uprising surprised me as much as anyone else, and I had no idea that Peter was somehow connected to it.
EDMUND
I’m surprised by the Count’s behavior.
EWELINA
He never considered me even for a moment.
EDMUND
And when you found out, you had to condemn him?
EWELINA
I didn’t understand him at all, but I didn’t condemn him. I didn’t have a right to do that.
EDMUND
But Countess!?
EWELINA
I didn’t have a right to condemn him.
EDMUND
Why? It was extremely disloyal of him, to commit treason like that. And how dangerous. It’s good it ended only with Siberia.
EWELINA
It could have been the death penalty.
EDMUND
And confiscation of all your property.
EWELINA
The estate is mine. The Emperor knew he couldn’t suspect me of being disloyal. My husband’s business was completely foreign to me. I was free of him.
EDMUND
Why are you taking on yourself this punishment which was justly served unto him?
What if you won’t be able to handle all of the difficulties . . . ?
EWELINA
I will be able to handle everyone, once I know I did the right thing . . .
EDMUND
Do you really think so? Are you sure you’re able to commit the same treason that he did?
EWELINA
Lieutenant, I am a Pole. The same as Peter. Do you think that plotting against Russian power is treason?
EDMUND
Naturally. . . .
EWELINA
And shouldn’t Poles strive for freedom? Isn’t it their natural right?
EDMUND
Countess, my dear, and what is freedom? What is a man’s natural right? Is there even such a thing?
EWELINA
Lieutenant. . . .
EDMUND
I’m sorry.
EWELINA
I don’t understand.
EDMUND
It’s a horse-riding injury. I’m sorry!
EWELINA
You’re asking me questions that I can’t answer. I don’t reason like men do. I follow my instinct.
EDMUND
You don’t have any guarantee that you made the right decision.
EWELINA
It follows my sense of the self as a dutiful wife.
EDMUND
Maybe, but it may not be right.
EWELINA
Night’s coming.
EDMUND
Evenings are long and nights are short.
EWELINA
Could you pull the curtains over the window. The one that’s closer to the bed.
EDMUND
When are they going to bring horses?
EWELINA
At dawn, around three or four in the morning.
EDMUND
Now, dawn starts at four.
EWELINA
How tall you are. When we were riding horses, you didn’t seem so tall.
EDMUND
I grew.
EWELINA
Sit down.
More tea?
EDMUND
No, thank you.
EWELINA
Cognac?
EDMUND
No, thank you. I drank a lot with supper.
EWELINA
What did you talk about during supper?
EDMUND
What else, your trip.
EWELINA
What a fragrant night. . . .
EDMUND
Are you thinking about our walks?
EWELINA
Our horse rides?
No.
EDMUND
You never rode horses with your husband?
EWELINA
No, never. But before you showed up, we didn’t own any good riding horses.
EDMUND
You seem to be born to ride horses. You should breed them here.
EWELINA
Now, when am I leaving?
EDMUND
But you can’t leave.
You can’t let such a gorgeous estate go to waste.
EWELINA
My husband has different ideas.
EDMUND
Just imagine what will happen when everything is administered by a government bureaucrat and the only person you know is Chwalibog.
EWELINA
Mary will grow up soon.
EDMUND
Until then, everything will be ruined. As a citizen, it’s your duty to take care of the estate . . .
EWELINA
You’re so impatient. Aren’t you a nobleman?
EDMUND
Countess, you’re offending me. In name alone . . . . It’s true that I come from an impoverished but noble family. My mother lives on a small estate in Bila Tserkva. That is all we have left. I serve in a good garrison, but I can’t afford all the leisure activities that others can. They send me to acquisition horses, and there aren’t that many temptations on this job.
EWELINA
Not many temptations?
EDMUND
Maybe. . . .
EWELINA
Can you tell me something about your mother? Are you her only son?
EDMUND
I have one sister. She is already married and much older than I am.
EWELINA
And your mother?
EDMUND
She loves me very much, of course.
EWELINA
Hard not to love your only son.
EDMUND
Well, who am I? I can’t do much, and I’m not well organized. The only thing I know is horses. I don’t even speak French all that fluently, just a bit.
EWELINA
You should marry someone rich, Lieutenant.
EDMUND
I wouldn’t think such a thing! Poor like a church mouse, awkward and without any talents.
EWELINA
You? Awkward?
EDMUND
Good for nothing.
EDMUND
Please, don’t go, Countess, please, don’t go, Mrs. Ewelina.
EWELINA
What are you doing! . . .
EDMUND
I would do anything to make you stay. . . . Countess . . .
EWELINA
I beg . . .
EDMUND
I beg you . . . I beg you . . . . It doesn’t make any sense to go. Going with your husband to Siberia, you’re taking on yourself all of the conditions of the criminal. Anyone can offend you. They can beat you, humiliate you. Every soldier, every scum can hit you – worse, he will have a right to pinch you, hug you, kiss you. You’ll be starving and you may never even see your husband. You never really loved him, and you don’t love him right now . . . . Admit it, you never loved him? You never rode horses with him, never danced with him, never ran around with him in the garden . . . . You never loved him.
EWELINA
Tell me, tell me: ‘Stay, Ewelina! Stay, Ewelina!’
EDMUND
Stay, Ewelina! Stay, Ewelina!
EWELINA
What’s going to happen if I stay?
EDMUND
Nothing will happen. Everything will be all right.
SCENE THIRTEEN
/Edmund opens up the window/
EDMUND
Take away the horses.
The Countess won’t leave today.
CHWALIBOG
The Countess will never leave.
SCENE FOURTEEN
/Mary wakes up in the carriage/
SCENE FIFTHTEEN
Sign: ‘Twenty years later’
KUKULUSIA
Oh, my God. Count Peter!
PETER
Not a word to anyone. I have a passport in a different name. Please, tell the Count . . .
KUKULUSIA
He’s not the Count.
PETER
Tell your master then.
KUKULUSIA
He’s not here right now. He left the Countess and he is staying in town now, at his garrison.
PETER
I have a passport with a different name and I am here legally.
KUKULUSIA
I understand, my dear Count.
PETER
Don’t call me Count. You got older, Kukulusia.
KUKULUSIA
I was there . . . that day, when the Russians . . .
PETER
Pss . . . We all forgot about that. Tell the Countess that Mr. Mackievich, from Cracow, wants to see her.
KUKULUSIA
Mackievich?
PETER
It feels so empty here. Dust all over . . .
KUKULUSIA
The Countess rarely comes down.
PETER
And guests?
KUKULUSIA
What guests. Nobody comes to visit.
PETER
Nobody?
KUKULUSIA
Sometime, a friend of . . . Mr. Edmund.
PETER
Nobody comes hunting?
KUKULUSIA
Sometimes just to buy a horse. We have beautiful horses now.
PETER
Officers?
KUKULUSIA
Yes, officers. They come . . . to play cards.
PETER
Cards.
KUKULUSIA
But the Countess never comes down to see them. Never. They get drunk sometimes, and shot, like officers. . . .
PETER
And nobody comes to visit the Countess?
KUKULUSIA
Who would do that?
PETER
Potockis . . .
KUKULUSIA
They’ve forgotten how to get here.
PETER
And others?
KUKULUSIA
Everyone’s afraid to go out, and even more to visit us . . .
PETER
What do you mean?
KUKULUSIA
Not worth talking about.
SCENE SIXTEEN
EWELINA
Peter. I was told someone came to see me.
PETER
It’s me. I have another name now. Don’t be offended, but my name is now Mackievich.
EWELINA
Why would I be offended? I’m glad to see you.
PETER
Really? You’re glad? It doesn’t look like it.
EWELINA
Edmund will be also glad.
PETER
I’d be happy to meet your new husband.
EWELINA
New? It’s been twenty years.
PETER
Time flies. We’re all old now. And you, as always, beautiful.
EWELINA
Untimely courtesy.
PETER
I don’t throw my words in vain. You’re beautiful, as you used to be.
EWELINA
You never gave me such compliments.
PETER
Do you regret it?
EWELINA
Oh, no. What are compliments, really? Dry leaves carried by the wind.
PETER
You said it so beautifully. Do you read a lot of poetry now?
EWELINA
Yes. Poetry . . . and romances . . .
PETER
Are you bored?
EWELINA
It’s empty here.
PETER
The older we get, the emptier it gets around us.
EWELINA
I am not that old yet.
PETER
Does Mary come to visit you sometimes?
EWELINA
No.
PETER
It must be sad indeed.
EWELINA
None of our relatives comes to visit.
PETER
And Edmund?
EWELINA
Edmund? I love him.
PETER
I suspected as much.
EWELINA
What brings you here? Business?
PETER
Yes. Business.
EWELINA
What do you want? We divided everything in court.
PETER
Yes, you were very generous.
EWELINA
Edmund wanted it that way. We didn’t want there to be any ambiguities.
PETER
You both were generous.
EWELINA
We didn’t want people to talk.
PETER
Yes, people. I understand. They talked nevertheless.
EWELINA
They talked, but they no longer do.
PETER
Not quite.
EWELINA
Time changes everything.
PETER
And brings memories. You seem very melancholic.
EWELINA
You forgot I’ve always been this way. Melancholia is the landscape of my soul.
PETER
You weren’t that sad before.
EWELINA
I was a silly young girl – before. How irresponsible a person is in his youth.
PETER
Not everyone.
EWELINA
Wasn’t it irresponsible of you to get yourself all tangled up in the uprising? Admit it, it didn’t make much sense.
PETER
Maybe it didn’t make much sense, but it did mean something.
EWELINA
No sense – much meaning? I don’t understand.
PETER
You didn’t understand it then. I thought you would understand it now.
EWELINA
Now? When?
PETER
Now, when you’re a mature woman. But you’re that kind of woman that never matures.
EWELINA
You’re wrong, Peter.
PETER
I wish.
EWELINA
Loneliness makes us mature fast.
PETER
You don’t have any company here?
EWELINA
Nobody.
PETER
Chwalibog?
EWELINA
He died a long time ago.
PETER
Florentine?
EWELINA
You don’t know? She went back to France right after our marriage.
PETER
And Aunt Daniela?
EWELINA
Aunt Daniela is a crazy old lady. She doesn’t know what’s happening around her. You’ll see, she’ll be here in a minute to ask us if we want some coffee.
PETER
Do you read a lot?
EWELINA
Oh, yes, I do.
PETER
Are you minding the household? Housekeeping was never your strong suit.
EWELINA
No? I don’t know much . . . and nobody needs me . . . I feed the swans.
PETER
You have swans now?
EWELINA
Yes, they breed endlessly.
AUNT DANIELA
Ewelina, do you want some coffee?
EWELINA
Auntie, we have a guest.
AUNT DANIELA
Who are you calling guest . . . It’s the master of the house . . . Good morning, Peter.
PETER
Auntie recognizes me?
AUNT DANIELA
How can I not recognize you? I saw you just yesterday.
PETER
But Auntie . . .
EWELINA
Yes, almost yesterday.
AUNT DANIELA
He doesn’t come down too often, but he came down here yesterday.
EWELINA
But Auntie, he just came back from Siberia.
AUNT DANIELA
Isn’t it all the same? Here? Or Siberia?
PETER
O! Auntie, it’s not all the same.
AUNT DANIELA
Every Pole has his own Siberia.
PETER
Well, if so . . .
AUNT DANIELA
And Ewelina does not suffer here? Oh, she suffers, she suffers . . .
EWELINA
Auntie shouldn’t talk like that.
AUNT DANIELA
We all suffer. It’s God’s will.
PETER
God doesn’t send us suffering.
AUNT DANIELA
If not God, then the devil – what’s the difference.
EWELINA
Auntie! What are you talking about? It’s unbecoming.
AUNT DANIELA
Yes, it’s a sin. Do you want some coffee?
PETER
With pleasure.
AUNT
From table to table. That’s life.
SCENE SEVENTEEN
EWELINA
I regret now that I didn’t follow you.
PETER
Really? You’re not the only one who didn’t. If all wives of the men who were sent to Siberia followed them, there wouldn’t be enough space. . . . You wouldn’t have helped me, and at least, you found some happiness for yourself here.
EWELINA
Happiness . . . . It was so brief.
PETER
No Polish happiness lasts for long. Maybe you got on a wrong track, turned left . . . or maybe right.
EWELINA
Peter.
PETER
My dear Ewelina, none of that matters now. How did Aunt Daniela say it just now? Every Pole has his own Siberia. I had a real one. Chained to my wheelbarrow, I worked and didn’t think much about you. I would have had to imagine you in your velvet dress, or in a summer dress – and such thinking didn’t bring much peace. I tried not to think about you and Mary. It was better that way. For a year or two, I thought about my friends, those whom they hanged. I thought, good thing it wasn’t me. A man chained to a wheelbarrow doesn’t have much energy to think about grand things. Slowly, he becomes very simple – all the grand thoughts leave him. All he thinks about is bread, soup, sleep. You stop thinking there. You don’t think about anything anymore. You’re old, tired and wasted. Everyone will tell you you didn’t change much, but that’s not true. You changed inside. And when people tell you about love and happiness, you don’t understand what are they talking about. You simply don’t understand. That’s your Siberia.
EWELINA
One loses the will to live listening to you. Would you like to tell me why are you here?
PETER
I didn’t have a chance to get rid of all my papers.
EWELINA
We burned them. Chwalibog destroyed everything, and Aunt Daniela helped him.
PETER
There is a secret drawer in this desk. Nobody knew about it. I left there a very important paper.
EWELINA
You thought that nobody would find it? For twenty years? Even if just while cleaning?
PETER
Empty. Really empty.
EWELINA
What was it?
PETER
It was a list of local estates involved in the uprising.
EWELINA
And that is what you came here for?
PETER
Farewell. I can’t stay any longer.
SCENE XX
AUNT DANIELA
Peter, here you go.
PETER
Auntie, you kept it?
AUNT DANIELA
It’s nothing. It’s just a list of people.
PETER
I would like to visit some of them. Make them look into my eyes.
AUNT DANIELA
But Peter, you’re leaving in such haste.
PETER
I don’t want to ruin your happiness.
AUNT DANIELA
For God’s sake, where are you going? Where are you going? Peter. Peter.
[1] “Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, 86, Dies; Was a Leading Writer in Poland.” The New York Times, 3 Mar. 1980, www.nytimes.com/1980/03/03/archives/Jarosław-iwaszkiewicz-86-dies-was-a-leading-writer-in-poland.html. [Accessed November 15, 2023].
[2] For more extensive online bibliography, see the entry on Culture.pl: https://culture.pl/en/artist/Jarosław-iwaszkiewicz [Accessed November 15, 2023].
[3] Iwaszkiewicz, Jarosław (1976) “Noc czerwcowa.” Noc czerwcowa, Zarudzie, Heydernreich. Warszawa: Czytelnik: 5-29.
[4] The film is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB5zm0YuoJM [Accessed March 3, 2024].
[5] Iwaszkiewicz, Jarosław (1980) “Noc czerwcowa.” Dramaty. Warszawa: Czytelnik: 171-248.
[6] Głąb, Grzegorz (2014) “Powstanie Styczniowe w tekstach Jarosława Iwaszkiewicza.” Niepodległość i Pamięć. 21/1-2 (45-46), 293-316: 293.
[7] Mazur, Aneta (2013) “Archeologia dziewiętnastowiecznej pamięci w insurekcyjnym tryptyku Jarosława Iwaszkiewicza (Noc czerwcowa, Zarudzie, Heydernreich).” Wiek XIX : Rocznik Towarzystwa Literackiego imienia Adama Mickiewicza. Warszawa: Instytut Badań Literackich. 6 (48), 393-423: 397.
The Mercurian 