On Bielski

Józef Czechowicz's trifle reminds us of the figure of Konrad Bielski (1902-1970), a poet and lawyer from Lublin. He was born in Piatydnie near Włodzimierz Wołyński. During World War I, he lived in Żytomierz. In 1919, he moved to Lublin, where he graduated from the Stanisław Staszic Gimnasium, and then studied law at Lublin Catholic University. He worked in the Lublin judiciary, and from 1931 in Krasnystaw he ran a lawyer's office. He was a member of the Reflektor poetic group; together with Jan Arnsztajn and Wacław Gralewski, he wrote texts for Reflektor cribs.

Bielski met Czechowicz during summer holidays in 1922. As he wrote in his memoirs: "It is important that from the very first meeting a close and cordial friendship was formed between us". He also stressed that the basis of his relationship with Czechowicz was "the greatest friendship", which Bielski shared with the prematurely deceased brother of the author of Kamień [The Stone] - Stanisław, "an exceptionally talented young man". No wonder that Czechowicz, who "not only loved but also admired his elder brother", approached Bielski "as his brother's closest friend with an open heart and an outstretched hand".

The first surviving letter by Czechowicz is addressed to Konrad Bielski. He sent it from Lublin most probably in the summer of 1922, shortly after they had made their acquaintance. The poet writes about how important and inspiring this meeting was for him in a letter sent from Włodzimierz Wołyński in November 1923: "You used to be my wake-up call. When I found myself in Lublin in the summer of the year 22, a half-child, a dreamer with the notions and soul of Claudel's characters and the same Claudelian simplicity, the city spoke to me for the first time through your mouth. Not any poems by Tuwim, not the newest magazines exposed in me the nerve of modern life. It was you who did it in a few sentences". Konrad Bielski, the author of Oda do wina [The Ode to Wine], was known for his love of alcohol and social gatherings. Czechowicz alludes to this fact in his trifle. He wrote it when his friend moved to Krasnystaw, a place where - according to Julian Krzyżanowski - "the poet's wit found the source of red wine". The figure of Bielski, in a similar context, appears in Czechowicz's poem We czterech [We Four].