Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/440
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THE CZECHOSLOVAK REVIEW
Halek’s Evening Songs
(Translated by Dr. Joseph Štýbr.)
1.The spring came flying from afar;With fresh desires all’s teeming;All things pressed forward to the sunSo long all had been dreaming!
The finches flew out of their nestAnd children from their bowers,And in the meadows sweetest scentsBreathe countless little flowers.
Young leaves press their way from the twigsAnd from birds’ throats their voices,And in the heart with budding loveThe youthful breast rejoices.
2.I am the knight from the old taleWho proudly to far regions rodeTo see the lass, fair as a rose,And to discover her abode.
Who would behold her—said her fame—Would by a ban at once be struck;His heart would be rent from his breast,Or he would change to be a rock.
Thought I to myself, possiblyFor clemency there might be room.I ventured out and for my sin—Became a bard by rigid doom.
3.Though all the world has gone to sleep,The heart wakes in the body,And God himself knows that the heartNe’er sleeps for anybody.
The whole God’s world is silence-bound,The heart still goes, well rated,And God himself knows that the heartGets never fatigated.
Thy lips then press Thou close to mine;From one mouth let the prayer rise—Let me the words press on Thy lips,And Thou send them to paradise.
Our prayer shall be strong, indeed,Our offer purest in that case—For angels, too, when they do pray,Are praying just in such embrace.
Sleep is the conqueror of thought,Night is day’s alternation—But in the breast the heart e’er wakesAnd guards its love’s sweet passion.
4.Stars by the hundreds dot the skyWith sister Moon at leisure,And God and angels view the worldFrom heaven’s height with pleasure.
A smiling angel’s coming downTo earth like heaven’s vision—Fair as the fragrant breath of spring,And love is his sweet mission.
Wherever he but passes by,All’s stricken with sweet passion,And nightingales and fair white dovesAll sing with animation.
And he whom his white wing does touchIs transformed all over,And something sweet comes to his breastThat human words can’t cover.
5.God summoned me to ParadiseTo get me educated.“’Tis hard for me to be alone!”The Lord then Eve created.
He took not one rib from my breast,My heart in half He parted.That is why my heart still tends backFrom where once Thine has started.
And that is why such strange desiresSo oft in my heart gatherAnd I feel as though both our heartsShould grow again together.
And that is why when I’m awayPain to my heart is creeping,My foot does of itself turn back,And I am sad—to weeping.
6.My sweetheart, come, kneel down with meNow is the time for us to pray—The moon has risen o’er the woodsAnd my time has just passed away.
But, darling, do not clasp Thy hands;Embrace me as I Thee with mine—And thus, instead of clasping hands,Two hearts will in one prayer join.