An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature/Water

For other English-language translations of this work, see Water (Theer).

Water

SWEET and enticing
As women’s souls,
Lace-foamed, O billow,
Thy surging rolls,
Bluster and dart,
Tangle my heart
In the swiftness and lure of thy singing.

Fierce in the mountains,
Soft as a sigh,
Drab shores of the city
Thou ripplest by.
Bear thou away
The mire and the clay
With the burden and plague of their clinging.

I kneel and thou givest
Baptism’s dower;
Grief now I master,
Strong with thy power.
Yonder I fare
To solitude’s lair
To the land of my phantasy’s bringing.
Anguish and Hope (1912)

This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

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.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

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.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse