Bohemian legends and other poems/The Way is Long

by Adolf Heyduk

THE WAY IS LONG.

 

Very long the footpath, hedged on either side,
As I trod it sadly. “Friends, farewell,” I cried.
Farewell I have said now, unto all I love,
Hamlet of my parents, “Farewell, with my love.”

Ah, where are the hours of my happy youth?
A thousand pities, they have passed forsooth!
Fate returns us nothing that she takes away,
Only this, she brings us pain and grief each day.

Mother sleeps in graveyard, father by her lies,
Will the dawn of Heaven bring them to my eyes?
When my heart thinks of them, sorrowful I say,
Will the grave bring me what life took away?