An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature/Adagio

For other English-language translations of this work, see Adagio (Vrchlický).

JAROSLAV VRCHLICKÝ

1853–1912

Adagio

Over the marble with its great drab shell,
Where faded leaves in place of water lie,
The boughs of birches and of maples fell:
All slumbers, save the scudding clouds on high.
Fain would I linger here in wistful poring,
And gaze at evening drawing nigh this way;
And at the hawk’s gloom-covered, clamorous soaring,
How o’er the wood he watches for his prey;
Fain would I be this statue wrought in stone,
On loneliness in forest-depths to brood,
Speaking with winds and echo all alone,
Upon whose brow the night by day is wooed.

A Year in the South (1878)

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Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1970, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 54 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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