Ballad of the Tar Woman

Ballad of the Tar Woman

From the age of eighteen

She worked in the Tar Plant —

As if in a fairy's den

Every day she woke with tar

Every day she swallowed tar

(even on Saturday and Sunday shifts)

Every night she fell asleep with tar

Sometimes she even missed it

On vacation — in dark town Ostrava

At her mother's nursing home —

Tar is not a Dior perfume

Nor Chanel No. 5,

Definitely not!

Tar is a killer

Tar knows how to wait

Wait long and patiently

It chose Her —

The doctors found a nasty disease

A creeping one

Unobtrusive

With the diagnosis C349

No one boasts about such a sickness

But what to do!

One must live

And also work

To earn bread

To pay for water

For gas

For rent

For kindergarten

To pay the doctor

For food

Clothing

Transport

And other expenses

She went to chemotherapy

And to church

Praying up above

Pleading desperately

For the salvation of her soul

Who can endure this!

Such pain!

Such suffering!

Despite all the torment

She did not forget to love life

And her husband Dalibor

And her four-year-old son Ondřej

Loved as long as she could

Until Christmas

The family received

A sad gift on Christmas Eve —

Death does not choose!

Translated into English by artificial intelligence

Published: https://firesnake.eu