An Anthology of Modern Bohemian Poetry/Nocturne
Karel de Wetter (b. 1882).
NOCTURNE
Serenely the country sleeps in the gloom,
It seems like to a grave-yard there,
Or like unto one mighty tomb,
Where I betake myself for prayer.
Like unto wraiths the trees are dreaming,
Rigid is every leaf thereon,—
The moon is on the waters gleaming,
Like to the image of a swan.
Afar from a window somewhere is playing
A piano o'er lands in dream held fast,—
As if in longing someone were praying
For the paradise, vanished in days long past.
As if from a bosom wounded sore,
The sound of frenzied laughter were pressed;
And as if lovers that are no more
Blent in kisses were gone to rest.
I feel as if o'er the land there stole
A grievous sorrow without a sound—
And this, methinks, is Schumann's soul,
That in lonely places roams around.
(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 1962, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 61 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.
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| 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 |
