RESPONSES
With a curse we are laden, and 'mid our longing's loftiest flight,
By the burden of earth we are thralled, and steeped in our blood's dim night.
"Ye are mighty and know not death, and your souls where mysteries throng,
Bear in them suns and spring-tides, and vintages endless long."
In the silence of cosmos, the focus of stars that blood-red wane,
Lonely we tarry, as tho' 'mid the watch-fires of foes in a chain.
"By the armour of heavily-armed ye are burdened, and into the strife,
Ye are chosen that ye may give freedom to all on the earth that have life."
We strive on the shattered bosom of him who is vanquished to kneel,
But we love not, we love not, and e'en when love we are yearning to feel.
"Ye are hard with the hardness of fruit not ripened, and scorched by the blaze
Of a mystical summer, ye ripen, your brothers' embraces to praise."
Joy is the sun in a dream beheld; at awakening quenched,
Grief has a thousand eyes, and ne'er has it utterly blenched.
"With millions are ye by a mystical brotherly bond girt round,
And only in joy of the millions can joy that is yours be found."
On a mighty furrow of fragrance to floating islands we steer,
We float and the islands are flloating, and ne'er to them do we draw near.
"Ye are shrouded around with a veil of deceit by your kingly eyes,
In the lustre that blooms in your souls do the islands before you arise."
"The Hands."
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.| Original: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1927. The author died in 1929, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. |
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| Translation: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1927. The author died in 1970, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. |