Page:An Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry.pdf/119

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MODERN BOHEMIAN POETRY
115

Otakar Theer (b. 1880).

THE SPRING EQUINOX

So sweet the air that e'en to perish were a wondrous thing,
So sweet the air, as blossoms freshly blooming in the spring;
The magic of the equinox, untroubled and exulting,
In peace is roving round, and in my soul
A garland of silvery dreams it has cast.

How much more beauteous are we all to-day,
How much more radiant are we all to-day,
Than in the days of the year that is past!

Let our eyes like waves be glowing,
Our lips in lustre mutely quivering,
Our hearts with dreams and love o'erflowingl

But amid scent of daisies in the fields draw near,
Like dancing shadows that to flowers bow not their head,
Like unto saints, that round them waft a radiance clear,
Women of whom we vainly dreamed in the year that has fled.

"Campaigns Against the Ego" (1900).