The Soul Of A Century/Spring

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For works with similar titles, see Spring.
3723032The Soul Of A Century — Spring1943Jan Neruda

SPRING

Peering through spectacles, a cane in one hand,
I walk through the flowery dale;
I plod slowly, solemnly, as if I failed to see
The changes Spring brought to the vale.

Indeed! Everything is exactly the same
As it was two score years ago . . .
The twittering birds fill the skies with their songs,
The trees are with blossoms aglow.

Again, little girls are prancing about,
So are the boys with immature hips.
The girls are singing this year’s newest songs
That were written for older lips.

There is no advancement, no progress, no change,
All moves in the same slow gear;
I fear it is we, who grow older with time,
Who get wiser from year to year.

I fear ’twill be thus to the end of the world,
Forever, all over this earth;
That Springtime will always its blossoms display
And youth have its song and its mirth.

I pass by a group of girls and boys
With whose chatter, I have weary grown,
Peering through spectacles, a cane in one hand,
My features as lifeless as stone.

 This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) between 1929 and 1977 (inclusive) without a copyright notice.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1987, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 36 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