Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/156
"Shall we go to the court of Matthias, my child?
Or, rather return to our own Vertes' wild;
To the home in our hamlet again?
We may there," said the worthy old man, "look for rest"
But forshadowing grief, as he spake, filled his breast;
And sadly departed the twain.
As the flower, when blighted by inward decay,
Though lovely in aspect, must wither away:
So languished Ilonka the fair,
Avoiding the world, and absorbed in her grief;
From deep hidden sorrow she found no relief;
For memory fed her despair.
So soon to its limit her life's current flowed,
To the tomb fair Ilonka by sorrow was bowed,
Like a lily which droops to the ground.
Virtue's image she showed, and its too frequent fate.—
In the lone house the king stands; but, ah! comes too late,
For they rest 'neath the grave's hallowed mound.[1]
In his lyrics, as in his epic poetry, Vörösmarty was the bard of lofty themes.
His lyrical poems fall into two more classes. Some deal with simple themes in a simple style, and breathe a spirit of serenity. Such, for instance, is the poem entitled Bird Voices,[2] of which we give the first and last stanzas:
Thus saith the lark in upward flight
While circling to the heavenly height:
"I greet thee, breeze, that sweeps the lawn;
I greet the beauteous golden dawn;
The wintry snows are at an end,
Bright is the sky, glad fields extend;
The grass grows green, and I will there
My little nest soon build with care.
Soon will the newborn earth appear;