" he wanted to understand to the very end

—Pascal's night
—the nature of a diamond
—the melancholy of the prophets
—Achille's wrath
—the madness of those who kill
—the dreams of Mary Stuart
—Neanderthal fear
—the despair of the last Aztecs
—Nietzsche's long death throes
—the joy of the painter of Lascaux
—the rise and fall of an oak
—the rise and fall of Rome "

― Zbigniew Herbert , Report from the Besieged City and Other Poems