An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature/The Hands

For other English-language translations of this work, see The Hands.

The Hands

IN dazzling whiteness of light lay the earth, like a book of songsOpened before our eyes. And thus did we sing:

Lo, in this moment the hands of myriads are locked in a magical chain,That all continents, forests, mountain-ranges, begirds And across silent realms of all oceans is outstretched unto brethren;In cities that loom darkly up from deep horizons, tragical altars of sacrifice;And where the sun, mystical lamp, suspended low from azure vaults,Bloodily smoulders in smoke, circling over stations and cathedrals,Palaces of kings and armies, council-chambers, prisons, amphitheatres,And where the ardour of a myriad hearts in the twilit heaven of spiritsFlares up enkindled, in feverish tempest of sweetness and death,Grains of glowing coal, uprooted by implement of iron;—In frowning silences of lowlands, in grievous forebodings of summer,When torrents of spring-tide powers, quenched in the blossom, petrify as lava motionless,Days, like toilers in secret foundries, creep onward in weariness,And in drops of sweat sparkle man and beast, a brotherly coupling in the yokeUnder a single invisible lash, that scourges from sunrise to sunset;On waves of oceans and of souls, where anguished behests of sailors, clutched by the whirlwind,Rotate around the masts, outdinned by triumph of lightnings, when skies and watersAre welded into a single element of horror and death;—At all forges, looms and presses, in quarries and subterranean shafts, Upon building-sites of the Pharaohs, where nations lament in bondageAnd raise up gigantic tombs above uncounted lords;—In the demoniac movement of wheels, pistons and levers and overhead whirring hammers;—On battle-fields, in observatories, academies, lazarets, laboratories;—In workshops of masters, pondering over marble, where slumbersA mightier world of horror and glory and from the fabric of age-old drowsingsHalf-illumined arises in the flash of chisels and the creative sparkle of eyes;—And yonder, where passion on volcanic steeps of death lets blossomOrange-gardens of yearning, and wines and poisons the fieriest ripenIn the feverish never-setting sun; and where pleasure,Alchemist poisoned by vapours of his vain ferment,Raves in hallucinations;—in twilights of mystery and music,Where pondering draws nigh to forbidden places and amid thunder of orchestrasIn a dream of forfeited harmony metals lament, and from the stringsIs wafted a torrent of songs like the earliest tempest of earth over weariness of souls;—Beneath electrifying gesture of maidens, where sparkle dazing spring-tides,Night-time of destiny resounds in soaring of kisses, stars are as lips aglowAnd woman, suddenly blenching at the outcry of her hidden name, in agonies As upon stairs oozing with blood, descends to the enchanted wells of life,Amid the wailing of ages hounded in a circle, amid the envious seething of invisible beings,And with cry of horror starts back, livid, and with grievous flaming of handsClasps her prey to her breasts: a life, lamenting in contact with the sun;In the clashing of a thousand wills, shattered by streams of thy mystical will,Alone among the myriads, man labours, countless hands are aquiver,From age to age they are fixedly clutched, wearying neverOn both hemispheres of earth. . . . In tragical triumph of dreamingLike hands of a child they toy with the stars as with jewelsBut on awakening they grow turgid and numb, blood-stained with murder,Livid with chillness of ages, and amid the soaring of earth, staggering over abysses,They cling in despair to its herbage. . . . Frenzied hands of a ruthless hunterTracking the elements down! Curse-laden hands of a half-naked slaveAt the scarlet forges of toil! In clasp of entreaty, the hands of the vanquishedFused like sand by the blow of lightning! And those cleansed with tears,Glistening, overflowing with lustre, with the bleeding stigmas of loveBranded for ever! Filled with magic and balm, with a touch of the brow reading the thoughts of brethren Kingly, lavishing! Lulling into celestial solace!Aetherized as light, and unto the fruit of mystical treesStretching forth through the whole universe into the endless!

And our hands, enfolded amid a magical chain of countless hands,Sway in the current of brotherly strength, which laps upon them from afar,Ever more potent from pressure of ages. Unbroken wavesOf sorrow, daring, madness, bliss, enchantment and loveSuffuse our bodies. And in the beat of their tempest, with vanishing sensesWe feel how our chain, seized by the hands of higher beings,Enfolds itself in a new chain unto all starry spacesAnd encompasses worlds.—And then in answer to the grievous question,Concealed in dread by centuries, as a secret of birthWhich first-born dying reveal to first-born,We heard the roundelay of waters, stars, and hearts and amid its strophes,At intervals melancholy cadences, dithyramb of worlds following one upon the other.The Hands (1901)

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, 1930.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1929, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 95 years or less. This work may 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.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1970, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 54 years or less. This work may 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.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse