Friday, June 5, 2020
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About Malgosia
I first met her in the nineties at one of our library workshops. The Branch Manager had introduced a new employee hired for the Brigden branch as Margaret Lang. During our lunch I joined a group of employees from the Brigden and Inwood branches and exchanged a few pleasantries with Margaret – and I noticed right away her eastern European accent. I introduced myself and asked her if I can call her by her proper Polish name Malgorzata. She was pleasantly surprised to see someone from Poland and eagerly agreed. Later, when I met her in the Queen of Peace Church, I called her Malgosia and she called me Krysia – diminutives of our first names.
Besides working at the Brigden branch, Malgorzata also worked in the Library Headquarters in Overdues and Acquisitions for about 8-9 years. During that time I learned that she studied Sociology at KUL (Catholic University in Lublin), she was from Podlasie (eastern part of Poland), loved farming and horses. Her drawings of horses were very, very good!
She loved her family. I remember that she took time off from the library to take care of her ailing closest family members (first her mother, and later her sister). David (her husband) always helped her, stood by her side and did not complain when his wife had to stay in Poland. She loved our church and participated in many different projects. She liked poetry of Jan Twardowski - Polish poet and Catholic priest (1915-2006). I wanted to share a few verses from the poem she liked, she knew some lines by heart in Polish. I’ve found the English translation:
Śpieszmy się kochać ludzi = Let us hurry to love people.
Śpieszmy się kochać ludzi tak szybko odchodzą Let us love people now they leave us so fast
zostaną po nich buty i telefon głuchy the shoes remain empty and the phone rings on
tylko to co nieważne jak krowa się wlecze what's unimportant drags on like a cow
najważniejsze tak prędkie że nagle się staje the meaningful sudden takes us by surprise
potem cisza normalna więc całkiem nieznośna the silence that follows so normal
jak czystość urodzona najprościej z rozpaczy it's hideous like chastity born most simply from despair
kiedy myślimy o kimś zostając bez niego. when we think of someone who's been taken from us.
Krystyna Stalmach
Funeral Establishment Operator Class 1 License FE-415
