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Radnóti Miklós: Peace, Dread (Béke, borzalom in English)

Portre of Radnóti Miklós

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Béke, borzalom (Hungarian)

Mikor kiléptem a kapun, tíz óra volt,

fénylő keréken pék suhant és énekelt,

gép dongott fenn, a nap sütött, tíz óra volt,

halott néném jutott eszembe s már repült

felettem mind, akit szerettem és nem él,

sötéten szállt egész seregnyi néma holt

s egy árnyék dőlt el hirtelen a házfalon.

Csend lett, a délelőtt megállt, tíz óra volt,

az uccán béke lengett s valami borzalom.

 

1938



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://mek.niif.hu/01000

Peace, Dread (English)

I went out, closed the street door, and the clock struck ten,

on shining wheels the baker rustled by and hummed,

a plane droned in the sky, the sun shone, it struck ten,

I thought of my dead aunt and in a flash it seemed

all the unliving I had loved were flying overhead,

with hosts of silent dead the sky was darkened then

and suddenly across the wall a shadow fell.

Silence. The morning world stood still. The clock struck ten,

over the street peace floated: cold dread was its spell.

 

translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://www.thehypertexts.com/Mikl%

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