Polish Interludes is my personal story, my song. Before coming to America, I was a singer of lyrics by other poets. This was a unique adventure and lots of fun. Traveling as a troubadour throughout my native country Poland, still during communism’s reign, offered me a special experience and thrill. In 1981, less than two months before proclaiming Marshal Law by the Polish Communist government, the time came. Due to a very tough and complicated situation in the country, my wife, our children, and I had to leave our place of origin, sell everything we could not take with us, pack the necessities in four pieces of luggage, and go. Did we know at what country to aim our hopes? Maybe Australia, Canada, France, Sweden, America? It now seems natural that we are in America. This nation accepts us as her own. But then, in the Austrian refugee camp, Traiskirchen, the uncertainty of our final destination deeply disturbed us. When waiting for our departure from Austria to America, I thought about my parents who had to leave Vilnius, their place of birth and work, and face the unknown in the spring of 1946.This is how these nocturnes came about. I felt compelled to compose songs, craved to share with readers my journeys from Vilnius, through Gdansk and Vienna, to America. These are observations, reflections, and emotions ranging from frustration to delight, from bitterness to wonder, pleasure, and love. I dedicate Polish Interludes not only to my family, but to all those forced to abandon their mother country to start their lives from scratch for the hope of freedom and prosperity.
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