An Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry/Thou and I

For other English-language translations of this work, see Thou and I (Bezruč).
2608353An Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry — Thou and I1912Petr Bezruč, translated by Paul Selver

THOU AND I

Get thee hence from my way:
Black are my hands and damp is the raiment I wear,
I am but a miner and thou art my master to-day;
Thine is the palace, a hovel of wood is my lair,
My Phrygian cap o’er my forehead a shadow doth throw.
But not unto me do the pleading orphans lament,
They are robbed by thy ravening hares of the fruits of the soil,

Thou art heartless and shameless—by lightning mayst thou be rent.
From the Beskyds am I, and a son of serfdom and woe,
I toil in thy forges and down in thy mine I toil;
Gall seethes in my veins and yet I toil for thee still,
I seize on thy wood by the side of the foaming rill.
I am black, I am poor, and the sweat on my forehead appears,
But no children because of my deeds in the Beskyds shed tears;
I oppressed no widows nor seized on their land with might,
So I am a beggar, and thou art my master to-day.
Hast thou come to the mountains? O get thee gone from my sight;
I wear a Phrygian cap—get thee hence from my way.

"Songs of Silesia" (1911).

 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 1958, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 65 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