The Soul Of A Century/Dead youth
DEAD YOUTH
On an aged instrument’s metallic strings
I heard a rhythmic fall of a harp’s far distant din,
As a tearful dew of feeble tones, this cadence clings
To the faint vibrating wires strung within.
Like some heavy scent a thought within my soul awoke,
And a song I used to hear in the days of my youthful tears
Breathed into my cheeks, and grasping my hand and cloak
It led me into the stilled garden of by-gone years.
Heavenly beauty shone with the constellations glistening storm,
Upon the quiet waters of time, a starry myth delayed,
Where in a casket of glass like a saint’s lifeless form
In a shroud of faded Springs, my wasted youth was laid.
A blush of rosy dreams upon the cheeks had bloomed,
Like a diadem the jewels of my tears shone through
Upon the forehead I had embalmed and gently groomed
With scented treasures of memories bom anew.
I saw the warmth of long dead charms/ that tempted once the eye
Beneath the flimsy veil woven at life’s first dawn,
The glow of lingering looks that buried within me lie
And kisses without life/ whose flames are forever gone
The grapes embittered blood/ that was not my ambition’s sap,
And the fervor of embrace that cooled with thought,
The rain of drifted blooms, that fell into my lap
And withered beneath my touch and turned to naught.
The light of risen mornings that did not paint my cheek
The feeble flame of rainbows, that did not cool my way,
The glare of bygone days, time turned to night so bleak
That it changed the peace of night to a charmless, turpid day.
All this flared in my soul, and the wishes of the dead
Re-echoed within my I, with a mortal sobbing sound.
Over my lifeless youth, I bent my musing head
As one bends over a lover, whom death had found.
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 1929, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 94 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 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 |
