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Seifert, Jaroslav: A Wreath of Sonnets XII (Věnec sonetů XII in English)

Portre of Seifert, Jaroslav

Věnec sonetů XII (Czech)

Tu kltebu nad střechami zlomí
a zapomenem na pumy,
městem zas život zašumí
jak kdysi v čas jen povědomý.

Žít zplna a ne po troše,
z pocitu vůle, jenž je vžit,
nemyslit na smrt, ale být,
být pro život, být z rozkoše.

Aby se ticho bezpečí
vrátilo opět v tyto domy.
Špatně se spává na meči

a ještě hůř spí bezbranní.
Často jsem volal ze spaní
to, co na srdci leželo mi.



Uploaded byRépás Norbert
PublisherViněta Miloslav Troup, sazba a tisk Jaroslav Picka (samizdatové vydání)
Source of the quotationPraha a věnec sonetů. Básně z let 1945 - 1949. Sbírka Monumenta genii bohemici, sv. 4.
Publication date

A Wreath of Sonnets XII (English)

It'll break the curse above the spires
and we'll forget the bombs again,
true life once more we shall regain
as in the days one now admires.

To live in full and not to toy,
to wish to live, to live, be free,
and not to think of Death. To be,
to be for life, to be for joy.

So calm and safety may return
to all those houses, hearths and fires.
To sleep on swords is hard and stern,

for those unarmed, sleep can't be deep.
Often I've shouted in my sleep
of all my hopes and heart's desires.



Uploaded byRépás Norbert
PublisherToronto : Larkwood Books Sixty-Eight (first published March 1952), ISBN: 0-88781-189-2
Source of the quotationA Wreath of Sonnets: Věnec sonetů
Publication date

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