This website is using cookies

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this website. 

Křesadlo, Jan: V. What use is her beauty, overcast (V. Co je mi platna její krása in English)

Portre of Křesadlo, Jan
Portre of Pinkava , Václav Z. J.

Back to the translator

V. Co je mi platna její krása (Czech)

Co je mi platna její krása,
když sleduje mne vlastní stín,
nač je mi věnec z kopretin,
když na mne všude bručí basa ?

Není to záležitost skýv,
anebo kapek ve kropence,
člověk je nejen chlebem živ,
mazaným tlustě nebo tence.

Josu tady ovšem velmi skvělá
ta jara, léta, podzimy,
i zima, jež se sněhem bělá.

Přeji si více od života,
co je mi platná krásná hmota,
když moje duše mrtví mi ?



Uploaded byRépás Norbert
PublisherVzdorověnec, překladatelova vlastní reakce na Seifertův Věnec Sonetů, dokončeno 1.8.1995
Source of the quotationkresadlo.cz
Publication date

V. What use is her beauty, overcast (English)

What use is her beauty, overcast
When my own shadow haunts me plain
What use a garland, daisychain
When bars that chime - for jails are cast ?

Nor holy water drought, believe
Or that we miss our slice of bread,
By bread alone man cannot live,
However thin or thickly spread.

Of course they're wondrous as we know
Flowering springs and summers swift
Or autumn, winter in dazzling snow.

I wish for more out of life than this,
What use is grace, material bliss,
When my soul deadens, will not lift ?



Uploaded byRépás Norbert
PublisherCounter-garland, written in reaction to and during translation of Jaroslav Seifert's Wreath of Sonnets, completed on August 1, 1995
Source of the quotationkresadlo.cz

minimap