Molly Wesling: Czesław Miłosz's Hundred Acre Wood

Upon the birth of her son, writes Molly Wesling, the great poet sent a gift: "The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh." The inscription read, "To Nicholas Wesling Gerber, that you may enjoy it as I did."

Czesław Miłosz

By Molly Wesling

April 8, 1995

Dear Mr. Creedon,

Thank you for your letter of March 18, 1995. The first requirement to become a writer is to get a good education, possibly with a knowledge of classical languages—Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, a training in history of philosophy, and world literature. The rest will follow.

Sincerely,
Czesław Miłosz

For five years I worked part-time for the poet and Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz at his home in the Berkeley Hills. Miłosz was 79 when I started taking dictation in Polish and English, helping him answer queries and invitations, mostly finding ways to say “no” in the gentlest of tones. Every so often though, I’d get to transcribe a gem like the letter above.

Once a week I caught the bus to 978 Grizzly Peak Blvd. Miłosz would greet me at the door, shake my hand with a slight bow, and invite me to his study. By then he had a facial tic: his shaggy eyebrows twitched up and down as he talked. Carol, his American second wife, a lovely, f…