Swinburne, Charles Algernon: Itülosz (Itylus in Hungarian)

Swallow, my sister, O sister swallow,
How can thine heart be full of the spring?
A thousand summers are over and dead.
What hast thou found in the spring to follow?
What hast thou found in thine heart to sing?
What wilt thou do when the summer is shed?

O swallow, sister, O fair swift swallow,
Why wilt thou fly after spring to the south,
The soft south whither thine heart is set?
Shall not the grief of the old time follow?
Shall not the song thereof cleave to thy mouth?
Hast thou forgotten ere I forget?

Sister, my sister, O fleet sweet swallow,
Thy way is long to the sun and the south;
But I, fulfilled of my heart's desire,
Shedding my song upon height, upon hollow,
From tawny body and sweet small mouth
Feed the heart of the night with fire.

I the nightingale all spring through,
O swallow, sister, O changing swallow,
All spring through till the spring be done,
Clothed with the light of the night on the dew,
Sing, while the hours and the wild birds follow,
Take flight and follow and find the sun.

Sister, my sister, O soft light swallow,
Though all things feast in the spring's guest-chamber,
How hast thou heart to be glad thereof yet?
For where thou fliest I shall not follow,
Till life forget and death remember,
Till thou remember and I forget.

Swallow, my sister, O singing swallow,
I know not how thou hast heart to sing.
Hast thou the heart? is it all past over?
Thy lord the summer is good to follow,
And fair the feet of thy lover the spring:
But what wilt thou say to the spring thy lover?

O swallow, sister, O fleeting swallow,
My heart in me is a molten ember
And over my head the waves have met.
But thou wouldst tarry or I would follow,
Could I forget or thou remember,
Couldst thou remember and I forget.

O sweet stray sister, O shifting swallow,
The heart's division divideth us.
Thy heart is light as a leaf of a tree;
But mine goes forth among sea-gulfs hollow
To the place of the slaying of Itylus,
The feast of Daulis, the Thracian Sea.*

O swallow, sister, O rapid swallow,
I pray thee sing not a little space.
Are not the roofs and the lintels wet?
The woven web that was plain to follow,
The small slain body, the flowerlike face,
Can I remember if thou forget?

O sister, sister, thy first-begotten!
The hands that cling and the feet that follow,
The voice of the child's blood crying yet
Who hath remembered me? who hath forgotten?
Thou hast forgotten, O summer swallow,
But the world shall end when I forget.

*Philomela, a daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, and sister to Procne, who had married Tereus king of Thrace. Procne separated from Philomela, to whom she was particularly attached, spent her time in great melancholy till she prevailed upon her husband to go to Athens, and bring her sister to Thrace. Tereus obeyed his wife's injunctions, but he had no sooner obtained Pandion's permission to conduct Philomela to Thrace, than he became enamoured of her, and resolved to gratify his passion. He dismissed the guards, whom the suspicions of Pandion had appointed to watch his conduct, and he offered violence to Philomela, and afterwards cut off her tongue, that she might not be able to discover his barbarity, and the indignities which she had suffered. He confined her also in a lonely castle, and after he had taken every precaution to prevent a discovery he returned to Thrace, and he told Procne that Philomela had died by the way, and that he had paid the last offices to her remains. Procne, at this sad intelligence, put on mourning for the loss of Philomela; but a year had scarcely elapsed before she was secretly informed, that her sister was not dead. Philomela, during her captivity, described on a piece of tapestry her misfortunes and the brutality of Tereus, and privately conveyed it to Procne. She was then going to celebrate the orgies of Bacchus when she received it; she disguised her resentment, and as during the festivals of the god of wine, she was permitted to rove about the country, she hastened to deliver her sister Philomela from her confinement, and she concerted with her on the best measures of punishing the cruelty of Tereus. She murdered her son Itylus, who was ir the sixth year of his age, and served him up as food before her husband during the festival. Tereus in the midst of his repast, called for Itylus, but Procne immediately informed him that he was then feasting on his flesh, and that instant Philomela, by throwing on the table the head of Itylus, convinced the monarch of the cruelty of the scene. He drew his sword to punish Procne and Philomela, but as he was going to stab them to the heart, he was changed into a hoopoe, Philomela into a nightingale, Procne into a swallow, and Itylus into a pheasant. This tragical scene happened at Daulis in Phocis; but Pausanias and Strabo, who mention the whole of the story, are silent about the transformation; and the former observes that Tereus, after this bloody repast, fied to Megara, where he destroyed himself. The inhabitants of the place raised a monument to his memory, where they offered yearly sacrifices, and placed small pebbles instead of barley. It was on this monument that the birds called hoopoes were first seen; hence the fable of his metamorphosis. Procne and Philomela died through excess of grief and melancholy, and as the nightingale's and swallow's voice is peculiarly plaintive and mournful, the poets have embellished the fable by supposing that the two unfortunate sisters were changed into birds.

Fecske, hugocskám, ó húgom, fecske!
Szived hogy tölti be így a tavasz?
Sok nyár kiégett, ezernyi már.
Mit rejt a tavasz, hogy őt kövesd te?
Mit rejt a szíved, mi dalra fakaszt?
Mihez fogsz, ha kiégett a nyár?

Ó fecske, húgom, ó szép, gyors fecske,
mért szállsz a tavasz nyomába Délnek,
lágy Délnek, mely úgy vonzza szived?
Múlt évek gyötrelme nem követne?
Ajkadba nem hasít az az ének?
Előbb feledsz, mint én feledek?

Húgom, hugocskám, sebes, szép fecske,
hosszu az útad Délnek, a napnak;
de én, mig szívem a vágyban elég,
dalt ontok felhőkre, mély üregbe,
e rőt kis test, e mézizü ajkak
eltöltik tűzzel az éj szivét.

Ha a tavasz jön, én, csalogány,
ó fecske húgom, ó könnyű fecske,
tavaszon által csak énekelek,
köntöst az éjharmat-fény ad reám,
s míg órák és vad madarak követnek,
a napnak szállok s a napra lelek.

Húgom, hugocskám, lágy, könnyű fecske,
tavasz lakában ezernyi a vendég,
mégis, van örvendezni szived?
Hová te szállsz, csak akkor követlek,
ha élő felejt s a holté az emlék,
ha te emlékszel s én feledek.

Fecske, kis húgom, éneklő fecske,
íly dalra szíved hogy fakaszt?
Van hát szived? Azt elfeledted?
Jó úr a nyár, hogy őt kövesd te,
s lágy léptű kedvesed, a tavasz,
de mit mondasz majd a kedvesednek?

Ó fecske húgom, ó fürge fecske,
olvadt zsarát ma bennem a szív,
s a hullám már-már eltemet.
Hát késnél, hogy én szálljak helyetted?
Vagy én felednék, s lennél te hív,
ha emlékeznél, míg én feledek.

Kis kósza húgom, ó sikló fecske,
a szívünk más, el kell válni most.
mint fán a levél, könnyű a szived;
enyém örvényeken át tör a helyre,
ahol megölték Itüloszt,
Daulis házába, thrák part felett.*

Ó fecske húgom, száguldó fecske,
könyörgök, most ne kezdj a dalba.
Nem áznak ajtók, házfedelek?
Az áruló himzett szövetre,
véres tetemre, virágszirom arcra
emlékszem én, s te elfeleded?

Ó húgom, húgom, az elsőszülötted!
Lépte követ, keze kulcsol egyre,
és vére kiált még szüntelen;
Ki emlékszik rám? És ki felejtett?
Te már feledted, ó nyári fecske,
de jöjjön a vég, ha én feledem.

*A teljes történet Ovidius Átváltozások című művében olvasható Procne és Philomela címmel. A történet röviden: Tereus, Trákia királya katonai segítséget nyújt egy háborúban Pandionnak, aki ennek köszönhetően győz. Pandion hálából Tereusnak adja idősebb lányát, Procnét. Tereus titokban Procne húgát, Philomelát szereti. Procnéval hazautazik Trákiába, boldogtalan nászukból megszületik fiuk, Itys. Néhány évvel később Procne megkéri Tereust, hogy hozza el neki Philomelát Athénból, amit Tereus meg is tesz, ám hazautazás közben megerőszakolja Philomelát, majd kivágja a nyelvét, hogy ne mesélhesse el mi történt vele. Hazaérve bebörtönzi, rendszeresen látogatja, miközben Procnénak azt hazudja, húgát a farkasok ették meg útközben. Philomela eközben lepedőbe szövi történetét, az elkészült szövetet elküldi Procnénak, aki ezt elolvasva megtalálja és kiszabadítja testvérét. A két nővér szörnyű bosszút esküszik: Ityst anyja meggyilkolja és felszolgálja vacsorára férjének, Tereusnak. Amikor Tereus rájön, mit tett Procne, meg akarja ölni a nővéreket, de az istenek közbeavatkoznak, mindhármukat madárrá változtatják.