Songs of the Slav/A Sonnet of the Past
A SONNET OF THE PAST
You sigh as backward gazest thou:
Ah, after all times then were best.
But, my dear friend, be not depressed,
You said it then as say you now.
And in that "then" not otherwise,
You longed for only what was past.
Thus further back you will surmise,
Till reach you swaddling clothes at last.
And in those clothes perhaps you'd prate,
Couldst thou but speak or meditate,
Oh, but times then were better still.
'Tis fate's old witticism ill.
So, it may be a better fate
When hearts will cease to meditate.
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, 1929. The longest-living author of this work died in 1942, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 81 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 |
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| Translation: |
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 1973, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 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 |
