Modern Czech Poetry/Avar inroad
3. ZÁJEZD AVARSKÝ.
Vsi hoří vzadu. Nebe černo dýmem.
Plamenné proudy z daleka se lijí
po zralém obilí a trávě lučin.
A z míst těch valí hlučící se mračno
avarských lidí. Šikmoocí jezdci
se pohupují volně na konících,
neb bezpečno je. A jsou spokojeni.
Jsou ověšeni kalichy a kříži,
relikviáři, svícny, konvicemi,
ornáty, plášti, poháry a šatstvem.
Krav bučení a mekot koz a ovcí,
jež vedeny jsou v středu bojovníků,
zní jako libá hudba sluchu jejich.
A každý vleče, otočiv si vlasy
jak provazy kol kostnaté své ruky,
tři, čtyři ženy, jež jsou zcela nahy
a zkrváceny, neboť ňadra jejich
jsou vesměs kolmou ranou probodána.
3. AVAR INROAD.
Villages rearward burn. Smoke-black the sky.
Torrents of flame pour onward from afar
Over the ripened corn and meadow-grass.
And from these places rolls a rumbling cloud
Of Avar soldiery. The slant-eyed horsemen
Sway buoyantly upon their horses, for
There is no peril. And they are content,
Laden with goblets and with crucifixes,
With reliquiaries, candalabra, cruses,
With vestments, mantles, flagons and apparel.
Lowing of cows and bleat of goats and sheep
Which are borne on amid the warriors,
Ring out like sweetest music in their ears.
And each one drags along, having entwined
Tresses like ropes around his bony hand,
Three or four women, naked utterly
And with their blood bedabbled, for their breasts
With a sheer wound are all pierced through and through.
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.
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