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Radnóti Miklós: Just Sleep (Aludj in English)

Portre of Radnóti Miklós

Aludj (Hungarian)

Mindig gyilkolnak valahol,

lehunyt pilláju völgy

ölén, fürkésző ormokon,

akárhol, s vígaszul

hiába mondod, messzi az!

Sanghaj, vagy Guernica

szivemhez éppen oly közel,

mint rettegő kezed,

vagy arra fenn a Jupiter!

Ne nézz az égre most,

ne nézz a földre sem, aludj!

a szikrázó Tejút

porában a halál szalad

s ezüsttel hinti be

az elbukó vad árnyakat.

 

1937



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://www.sarok.org/users/versek/m_93217/

Just Sleep (English)

All the time there’s murder somewhere,

in the lap of valleys                                     

with closed lashes, on spying summits,

anywhere, and as a solace

you say in vain, it’s so far off!

Shanghai, or Guernica

are just as close to my heart

as your dismayed hands,

or Jupiter so high up there!

Don’t look up the sky now,

nor down on the ground, just sleep!

in the dust of glistering

Milky Way death is on the run,

and strews with bright silver

the tumbling ferocious shadows.

 

1937



Uploaded byN.Ullrich Katalin
Source of the quotationN. U. K.

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