A Trip to Świder holds a unique place among Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński’s poems. Written in 1949, it first appeared in “Przekrój”, to which Gałczyński was a regular contributor (and which indeed is mentioned by name in the course of the poem). Although it was published as one of the mini-dramas he had written for the so-called Green Goose Theatre, it cannot be considered the most representative example of the series. Anecdotal as it may sound, it is a known fact that Gałczyński submitted A Trip to Świder only when he had failed to finish another ‘Green Goose’ piece on time. This may throw light on one of the songs included in the poem, namely “The Song of the Rojek Brothers” (the Polish Bracia Rojek being one of the “Przekrój” editor-in-chief’s many pseudonyms).

In A Trip to Świder, Gałczyński takes his readers on a trip to&