An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature/Monologue of a Former Infantryman
JINDŘICH HOŘEJŠÍ
(b. 1889)
Monologue of a Former Infantryman
Some scanty memories from school,—
No more than this to me they meant.
A city factory; day by day
Changeless toil,—such was the way
The idyll of my life was spent.
When war began.
Now beckoned the road’s far span.
Perhaps ’twas no favour, but only scorn
Which, like my share of bread each morn
From my masters I had earned.
Now came the journeys for which I had yearned,
Through Serbia, Russia and Italy.
This did I see:
Everywhere hands of toil have the self-same guise,
Man everywhere loves in the self-same wise,
And dies.
Everywhere day is followed by night.
We are men, we are men
In the world alone,
Our sole aid our own.
No more allures me. In peaceful dream
All is blended, joyous as day’s white gleam.
Yet somehow a warp in my joy I find.
—Perchance the last pangs of my ancient grief—
Ever that Russian I call to mind,
He whom I bayoneted through,—
His lips were red, his eyes were blue,
His face was chalky-white.
Music in the Square (1921)
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, 1931. The longest-living author of this work died in 1941, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 84 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, 1931. 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 55 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 |
