An Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry/The Spring Night

2608491An Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry — The Spring Night1912Otakar Březina, translated by Paul Selver

THE SPRING NIGHT

The night sang softly, and the sound of early grass and spring-tide rains
In harmony was blended with her melancholy strains;
On high, the stars, bright chalices unbounded,
Breathed the heavy scent of plants, that grow upon no earthly soil,
And my brothers' hands, as if in death, lay crossed upon their breast,
Lay in silence and delusion, e'en as they were stone-oppressed,
Asunder cleft by toil.


But their spirit hands unto the stars were clasped,
A myriad souls upon the earth and all the worlds they grasped,
And a long sigh of glad awakenings.
The festive surging of the town that ne'er shall die,
The rustle of spirit pinions, the play of the winds in a mystic lea,
The opening strains of orchestras, that none may see,
To the rhythm of their secret gesture rose on high.

"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, 1929.


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 94 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, 1929.


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 53 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