 May First, the Time
of Love
On
May 1st, couples gather at the statue of Karel Hynek
Mácha, the Czech Romantic "poet of love",
in Prague's Petřín Park where they lay flowers and
spend a few moments. The park is a particularly
romantic place in May when its cherry trees are in
bloom. Since May 1st is a national holiday in the
Czech Republic, lots of people come to Petřín for
a stroll if the weather is nice.
Karel Hynek Mácha
(1810 - 1836) was a great Czech Romantic poet
and author of the epic poem Máj (May). The
poem, written in a remarkably beautiful style,
tells about the tragic
love of two young people and has become a poetic
masterpiece of the Czech Romantic period and Czech
literature in general.
Beginning verses, translation by Edith Pargeter
Byl pozdní večer
- první máj -
večerní máj - byl lásky čas.
Hrdliččin zval ku lásce hlas,
kde borový zaváněl háj.
O lásce šeptal tichý mech;
květoucí strom lhal lásky žel,
svou lásku slavík růži pěl,
růžinu jevil vonný vzdech.
Jezero hladké v křovích stinných
zvučelo temně tajný bol,
břeh objímal je kol a kol;
a slunce jasná světů jiných
bloudila blankytnými pásky,
planoucí tam co slzy lásky. |
Late evening,
on the first of May -
The twilit May - the time of love.
Meltingly called the turtle-dove,
Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay.
Whispered of love the mosses trail,
The flowering tree as sweetly lied,
The rose's fragrant sigh replied
To love-songs of the nightingale.
In shadowy woods the burnished lake
Darkly complained a secret pain,
By circling shores embraced again;
And heaven's clear sun leaned down to take
A road astray in azure deeps,
Like burning tears the lover weeps. |
The complete poem and its English
translation are available at www.lupomesky.cz/maj/may.html
Read about Mácha's final days at Radio
Prague Online
|
