An Anthology of Czechoslovak Poetry/Czech Poetry/Jan Neruda

For other English-language translations of this work, see To My Mother (Neruda) and Cosmic Songs, no. 26.

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An Anthology of Czechoslovak Poetry (1929)

"To Mother" and "Cosmic Song No. 26"
by Jan Neruda, translated by Watson Kirkconnell and Božena Strejcová

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related portals: Czech literature

The poem "To Mother" is a translation of a fragment of the Czech original Matičce. The "Cosmic Song" is a translation of poem no. 26 from the Czech original collection Písně kosmické.

Jan Neruda4781000An Anthology of Czechoslovak Poetry — "To Mother" and "Cosmic Song No. 26"1929Watson Kirkconnell and Božena Strejcová

JAN NERUDA

(1834–1891)

Neruda, easily the most important figure of his period, was born in the Malá Strana in Prague of humble parents. Educated at the Charles University, he traveled widely. His prose stories and many of his poems show him an artist of the highest rank, and his humorous essays have had many imitators among his nation.

TO MOTHER

Naught my heart can sever From my little mother—Poor and small, but ever Dearer than all other.

Should base birth malign her, I’d refuse to hear it:Love would still enshrine her In my honest spirit.

Were she wizened smaller Than a dwarf’s shrunk seeming,Still my heart would call her Dear beyond all dreaming.Translated by Watson Kirkconnell

COSMIC SONG
No. XXVI

Lift high your head, O ye nation!Look to the heaven above.See! There are also little starsRound which the large revolve. ’Tis simply this, the little stars. Are made of solid masses While the large and obedient ones Are formed of flaming gases.

Mindful of this, your throbbing heartMaketh a firm resolve. . . .Let us then be the little starRound which the large revolve! This can be done,—let everyone Hold his unflinching station. If each man stands a wall of flint, Adamant is our nation.Translated by Božena Strejcová
Published in Komenský