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

Portre of Seifert, Jaroslav

Věnec sonetů II (Czech)

I kdyby byla v sutinách
a voda s větrem dělila si
i popel zbylý z její krásy
a to, co přežilo by strach,

žila by jako věčný vzkaz
a píseň, která zní mi v uchu,
jak obraz na plynoucím vzduchu,
vznášející se mimo nás.

Kdyby smrt začla počítati,
stojíc už zmaru na dosah,
jen do sta, jen do padesáti,

nebudu prchat z palisády,
i kdybych potácel se hlady
a kdybych ztratil vlastní práh.



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 II (English)

And were she levelled to the ground
and wind and water split their booty,
ashes remaining of her beauty,
and what survived the dread, they'd hound.

She'd live on till the final day,
a tune which in my ear is singing,
and image which the air is bringing,
which floats and never fades away.

If Death again began his tally
of those whom doom and fear surround,
just fifty men left in the alley,

I'd man my post, steadfast, believing,
though I'd be starved and barely living,
if my own home could not be found.



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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