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MODERN BOHEMIAN POETRY

Quido Maria Vyskočil (b. 1881).

TWO TREASURES

(Theme from the Foundry)

Now comes the moment, when out of the furnace the silver flows,
And the whole foundry quivers beneath one flaming stream;
The shadows of swarthy shoulders dance on the surface that glows.
The silent throng of the toilers tarries hard by,
Flitting with eyes that are dazzled amid the silvery gleam.
And the young toiler who now for the first time of all is aware,
Of the village that brought him forth he of a sudden thinks,
Remembering on the way how many the poor that are there,
Yonder amid the nearness and gleam of the silver.
'Tis peaceful. The road slips by! In the arms of dusk the day sinks.
In a wondrous dream of a sudden, his soul in the gloom shines clear,
And to the eternal Ionging within him is wafted lightness.
Lo, his young wife bids him welcome and sheds a joyful tear,