< Modern Czech Poetry

KAREL TOMAN.

1. SENTIMENTÁLNÍ PIJÁCI.

Příteli melancholiku,
druhu mé duše tulácké,
pod kterým nebem shasnou kdysi
životy naše žebrácké?

Pohádek našich stříbro, šeď
kdy rozstříkne se, v kterou zem?
Kdy hudby, jež jsme milovali,
posledním vzdychnou akkordem?

Oh, dávná láska procitá
zas echy v strunách srdce. Dost
Na zdraví sobě! Snům a světu!
Ať rekviem má minulost.

Ve zlatém víně ztopíme
tyranský rozmar pamětí.
A zpívat budem, zapomenem
lásku i vztek i prokletí.

Torso života“ (1901).

KAREL TOMAN.

1. THE SENTIMENTAL CAROUSERS.

Comrade thou of melancholy,
Thou, my vagrant spirit's friend,
Underneath what sky hereafter
Will our lives of beggary end?

Our annals, silvery and drab,
Within what land, when will they wane?
When will the music that we cherished
Be wafted in a last refrain?

O, bygone love an echo rouses
In the heart's chords again. No more!
Hail to ourselves, to earth, to dreaming!
A requiem to the days of yore.

In golden wine the tyrant mood
Of memory we shall immerse.
And we shall sing, and shall forget
Our love, our fury and our curse.

“Torso of Life” (1901).

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.

 
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.