Poems by Vladimír Roy

DARK IT IS

Dark it  is above me, below me and within,

dark throughout the day as dark the night has been,

cold it is and raw down to the deep bottom

of my soul, and all is peaceful as the autumn

with an alien peace, a peace without a name,

oh, how this kind of peace fills me with shame.

(When the Mists Disappear, 1909)

FAITH

(To Ivan Krasko)

And she came to me softly, garbed in lilies,

as unassuming as a skylark’s song,

on the snowy wings of a dove,

and knocked on my door, plainitively pleading.

And I did not open to her, but drove her away

in proud audacity...

And she departed sobbing, like an innocent child

unjustly slapped.

Today I kneel on the bare, damp ground,

Strewn with thorns

–fallen from the crown of Christ–

and I bitterly weep and pray:

Come, even though I should die, but come...!

(1910)

(Through the Dew and Thorns, 1921)

Translated by Andrew Cincura

VIRGIN FOREST

Take me, take me into your green embrace,

virgin forest,

soothe my heart's troubles, even if just today's,

not tomorrow's.

Take me, take me, I am a son of yours,

virgin forest,

somewhere I lost my luck, and here am I

sunk in sorrows.

Take me, take me, into your perfumed arms,

virgin forest,

maybe my jaded soul has music still

to pour in torrents!

(Rippling Spring, 1933)

Translated by John Minahane