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Unknown Le Mie Prigoni [German] , The Ideal Poland, The Epitaph and Appel a La France [French]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02766.064 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: s.l. Type: Poem Date: June 1916 Pagination: 1 p. ; 22 x 31 cm. Order a Copy

Ideal Poem written for the Princess Maria-Sorgueevan Troubetskoy. A Fullness of Unspent Passion/And Passing the Love of a a Woman/A A Glory on Faces Ashen/A Pain Which is Scarcely Human.

[Draft Created by Crowdsourcing]
LE MIE PRIGIONI
/ Silvio Pellico /
Herrn Professor Thomas Garrigue MASARYK gewidmet
/ spaeter Praesident der Czecho Slowakei /

Ich sitz' allein im Gefaengniss
und moechte so gut Ich kann,
schaun tief ins dunkle Verhaengniss
das war meines Lebens Bann.

Einst truebten mir Welt und Leben
der innere Sturm und Drang-
Was waren Brand und Erdbeben
da mir im Herzen war bang?

Und jetzt-wie könnt Ich es ahnen!
Ich sitze gefesselt im Thurm-
da treiben plumpe Germanen
Polen 'gen Polen zum Sturm.

Die Polnische Hekatombe
waer halt nur ein Goetter Scherz?
non kracht eine deutsche Bombe!
Ich dacht'es waere mein Herz.

IDEAL POLAND
lines written for the Princess Marua-Serguéevna Troubetskoy, my hostess-
USKOE-Manor near Moscow in the house where died the Jesuit father
Vladimir Solovioff. 7/20 June 1916.

A fulness of unspent passion
and passing the love of woman,-
a glory on faces ashen-
a pain which is scarcely human-
a life by ruin unruffled,
death haunting every decision-
battle-field prison or scaffold-
but still the immortal vision
from breaking hearts to inherit:
POLAND regaining her freedom-
dead voices mingled in spirit:
"Now come we unto our Kingdom."

"Who never weeping ate his bread
to whom no sleepless nights were
given,
when sorrow racked him on his
bed-
he knows you not-ye Powers of Heaven!"
GOETHE-Wilhelm Meister-
written with a diamond on a window
pane by Queen Louisa of Prussia
flying from Napoleon to Koenigsberg.

L'EPITAPHE
Deux dates précises-inexactes quand même-
qu'importe des années le poids mort enlisé?

L'amour n'a pas d'âge-l'homme naît quant il aime-
et muret quand son coeur est brisé.

The Epitaph / english translation

Two futile dates-their void behoves
the secret of things unspoken-
a man is born when first he loves
and dies when his heart is broken.

APPEL A LA FRANCE

a Monsieur le Professeur Charles RICHET illustre représentant de
la France, ami inaltérable de "Polonia Rediviva"-en souvenir du
Noel passé ensemble a Moscou.

Le prisonnier dans sa prison
étouffe une révolte infime,
ainsi qu on lance un tison
dans l'eau profonde d'un abîme,
- - - - - - -
Les nuits lui disent le néant
du monde trompeur de l'image-
il découvre au gouffre béant
le domaine immuable du sage.

Ainsi qu au vieux livre mal lû
il revient à la porte étroite-
l'initiation-dernier salut
baigne de clarté son front moite-

Mis s'il ne renaît philosophe
due cercle sordide et borne-
la vie à son ultime strophe
rejette cet enfant mort-né.
- - - - - - - -
Voyants de ce siècle en feu
marchez clamant notre espérance,
la France ne peut rien sans Dieu-
ni la Pologne sans la France!

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