about the site

the author

titles

first lines

essays

translations

acknowledgments

abraxas press

from the CZECH of Václav Hrabe
 
VARIATION ON A RENAISSANCE THEME
 
Love is the star of evening going
into sky’s darkness from its blue.
Fasten your doors with the bar!
Snuff out the flame in each jar!
Fortify blood and bone,
you,
whose hearts are as stone.
 
Love is a grandiose ship
which no longer has a master:
the crew on her quake, afraid
of dawn’s impending disaster.
 
Love is to wake in pained haze
as the furnace-fingers of stars
throw honeymoon bouquets
through your prison window-bars.
 
Love is the star of evening going
into sky’s darkness from its blue.
Our life
is a candle glowing—
which death
cannot do.
 
Václav Hrabe (translated by Alan Marshfield)
 

top of page                                                          translations menu