Saturday, October 20, 2018

Longing [Written entirely in Czech] pg. 46





Longing[1]
Oh, how crazy [you are], girlfriend mine
As if wasted[2], that beautiful time
When I was courting you
Oh, how I wish that could be again!
            From the moment[3] I see you once
            My soul gets lost in confusion over you
            You are my paradise, and my heaven
            Oh, how I wish that God would give me you again
An Intrusive Memory[4]
                        -On guard-
Beyond the Blue Mountains in the forest[5], a useless day has already become a lie
You, even in your soul, don’t feel[6] any sorrow- [but] I do, today
Oh, [even] if you knew it still wouldn’t be worth anything
These mountains are far away and you are beyond them
            The End
Albert Smith



[1] In Czech in a different handwriting
[2] Literally “idle [time]”
[3] Literally “at the time”
[4] In Czech in a different handwriting
[5] Literally “game preserve”
[6] Literally “have”

Friday, October 19, 2018

In the Green May Time (Continued) [Written entirely in Czech] pg. 45





When we had had our pleasure
My beloved began to cry
Forego, my beloved, going home this evening
Wait until it’s near morning
            We walked through the green arbor
            That pale moon no longer sees us
            It said, I don’t know, I don’t see
            That she met with [her] beloved
Memories of Youth[1]
The mountains resounded, the forests roared
Where did you go, my youthful hours?
[Those] hours, my hours, did not enjoy beauty
My youthful years did not enjoy the world
Youth [so] precious, precious, youth
We turned out as if in vain
We turned out to be in vain, things neglected me
Youth, precious youth, where did you get lost?
As if it had thrown that stone into the water
Even if that stone had turned around in the water
My youth will never come back





[1] In Czech in a different handwriting

Thursday, October 18, 2018

"Song" (Continued) [Entirely in Ukrainian] pg. 44



With [our] sweetheart and in the house of our native land
Will the springtime hours never return?
When will they return[1], tell me, tell [me]
Because grieving is neither pleasure nor council
Oh, nights in a foreign country will be more loving[2] again then
When a happier calf goes down to the native land
In The Green May Time[3]
When I went in the evening to my beloved
The moon lit my way, the stars slept
My beloved was not yet sleeping,
Was waiting for me in the green grove
            When we met in the green grove
            We talked of my love [for her]
            The cuckoo called “cuckoo” from the beech
            Called out to [my] angel
            What’s it to you, cuckoo, to cuckoo at us?
            I enjoy my beloved once a week
            And you, by contrast, cuckoo every day



[1] Literally “How must they”
[2] Or “kinder”
[3] In Czech in a different handwriting

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

"Song" [Entirely in Ukrainian] (Continued) pg. 43




Oh God, God where[1] is that hillside
Where a darling girl picked flowers
Where she picked them and wove a wreath
And charmed me so much
            We agonized for a year and a half
            Until we didn’t know an enemy near us
            Since we got to know each other, and separated
            Would that we had never had happiness
Song[2]
Stepmother, with you I go through life in vain
I look for family, oh where is it, where?
            Oh my God, kind, faithful to my house
            It seems as if I hear again the sweet sound of native speech
We greet [each other], a lighter wind blows where our native land is
There, anyhow, is dinner, there, it’s a happy paradise
            Those, then, are my thoughts
            Until hearts lie down there, they don’t banish tears
You are my family, [my] cornfields, when we return again to you
We will live together, happy[3]



[1] In the first line, the word translated as “where” is more Russian than Ukrainian.
[2] This song is in Ukrainian.
[3] Or “fortunate”

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

"Song" (in Ukrainian with the title in Polish) pg. 42




Song[1]
I would take up the bandura, tune it and begin to play
So that the voice of this song would be heard in the Heavens
Like fresh water on blossoming flowers
This song would fly into the distant world
[This] song would echo the dreams of my children
Would lead through disillusionment to a life of full measure
Would strengthen for the struggle for good, [for] beauty
For a nation without division, for a[2] sacred cause
This song would echo a greeting to this world
Sweet like a dream, burning like fire
And wherever its wings didn’t touch compatriots
Then happiness would float into family hearts
Song[3]
Already the moon has set, a violent wind blows
Towards her, [she] who does not know what happens to a heart
A girl gave a youth attraction
Charmed heart and soul
            This that, Oh God, they say is tormenting oneself
            If she doesn’t decide to marry
And if she decides it’s[4] not hurting anyone
This that, Oh God, torments two hearts


[1] At this point the poetry switches to Ukrainian. This poem entitled "Song" is in Ukrainian with the title in Polish
[2] Or “the”
[3] This entire poem and its title is in Ukranian.
[4] Or “she’s”

Monday, October 15, 2018

Song To the Tune of “From the Smoke of the Fire” (Continued) pg. 41





Those terrifying messengers, the crown of endeavor
Have already stolen virtue from many houses
There where pious lineage moaned
The curses of the sins of blasphemy make their nests
Already blasphemous voices, against God and Heaven
[Make] earthly pleasure the only paradise
The devil feeds our people with infernal bread
A cruel fate, Oh Lord, oppresses our country            The End



Expectation
The streamlet[1] and valley          The torment of my heart
Where my love awaits me            Something can pacify already
The hour gets nearer, nearer         Softly, softly, someone’s coming
At which we meet each day          [My] heart says it’s him
What if he’s not there?                  And he never betrays me
Maybe he’s only hiding                 I hear the song, it’s him there
Well, in vain I cast[2] my eyes      [My] worries were in vain
He’s not here at all                        Already the hour of happiness[3] is returning
Maybe he’s changed loyalties       Our hearts are one[4]
Maybe he doesn’t love me anymore    No one can separate us now 




[1] Literally “bird stream’
[2] Literally “send”
[3] Or “good fortune”
[4] Literally “mutually inclined”

Sunday, October 14, 2018

The Maxims of Zagłoba “Mammon" (Continued) pg. 40





Lack of a penny, that is poison, that is great grief
Without Mammon: Zagłoba mocks the world
                                                The End
Song To the Tune of “From the Smoke of the Fire”[1]
From the breast of the exhausted[2], all powerful Lord
To you I raise up a screaming voice of complaint
A terrible adversity are these abysses
Towards which our cruel fate pushes [us]
Human righteousness, our treasure, does not pull [us] out
Through our fathers, something is given us
Our native tongue the foreign [tongue] casts out
It’s cruel, Oh Lord, our Lord is cruel
But that is not the end of our adversity
Which torments us Poles, your people
An excess of sorrow in Polish fields
The filth of disbelief has begun to spread
What delight in darkness and greed
Satan sent to subjugate the world,
To destroy faith, to destroy good-naturedness
Stands now at Polish huts



[1] In a different handwriting. Presumably an intended reference to the mid-1800s patriotic song “From the Smoke of the Fires.”
[2] This word is plural