Attila József

Ant

The ant has fall’n asleep among the pupas.

Wind, stop, don’t blow the pupas away.

Or, it is all the same.

It bends its tired small head on sandcorns’ glint

and its tiny shadow is sleeping with it.

A piece of straw to wake it nicely with!

But I had better go home now,

the sky is overcast --

An ant has fall’n asleep among the pupas,

and a drop has fall’n on my hand at last.

When the beloved one crossed the street

When the beloved one crossed the street,

Doves settled to sparrows at her feet.

When she stepped on the pavement lightly,

Her sweet ankles were shimmering brightly.

When she gently lifted her shoulder,

A little boy turned round to behold her.

She seemed to hover -- the lamps were lit,

She saw pleased glances around her flit.

Many smiled at her, they took it in good part

That she was roots and branches for my heart.

How in my arms I’d rocked her charily,

Afraid that they would take her from me!

But my heart felt the gallant mood in them,

Which broke in me envy’s flowering stem.

And the beloved one went on gracefully

In her wake slender winds wavered coolly.

The swineherd

I’ve a herd of pigs I tend,

Their tail curls are permanent.

Each of them – a custom proud –

Wears a gold wire in the snout.

I’ve a snub-nosed piggy lass,

She’s a royal governess.

Once I heard her heave a sigh

To her mirror in the sty.

I’ve a little boar I love,

As docile as a turtle-dove.

But he roots so wild and well,

Sends the manor-house to hell.

I’ve a shepherd’s pipe with me

Cut from a banana tree.

When I blow it, acorns fall

And the trees start dancing all.

Clouds will gather in a heap,

When I come to crack my whip.

Copper handle with sparks set,

Many skirts get soaking wet.

Rocking

Now with reeds she rocks me,

Now with billows splashing,

Now with sky’s clear azure,

Now with lake-shore kissing.

She may find another,

Lads are never lacking,

But I wish he’d rock her

With the selfsame rocking.

Stroke my forehead

Stroke my forehead

Gently, and

Think that my hand

Is your hand.

Guard me like a

Murderous knife,

Think that my life

Is your life.

Love me dear and

Be my part,

Think that my heart

Is your heart.

I’ve never fancied

I’ve always listened to men preaching Sin

As if they’d told me tales. On second thought

I laughed, too – sin! a stupid idea taught

By those in action who dare not fall in.

I’ve never fancied that my heart within

Was a den of foul monsters. How I’ve fought

To picture it with all the dreams it brought

As a fond mother lulling, pampering!

And now I know it. In the immense lime-

Light of arousing truth the ancient crime

Is towering in my heart, a huge black bier.

And I must tell, whatever may befall,

I wish I shared the same guilt with you all,

Because I hate to stand so lonely here.

I who live on Earth

I who live on earth as a happy human,

Like the things that last for eternal eons,

Let me cry again to the sky above me –

Flora, I love you!

Strong enchantment binds me, serenely breathing

From your lips that teach me, a faithful dog, to

Watch the slightest sign of your nimble fingers

Framing my temper.

Flora, slender vase! oh you stand before me

With the sky’s vault, like a bouquet, stuck in you,

While on sunlit clouds, ‘mong the trembling leaves it

Stoops with the evening.

Prancing on my soul, on its steed, your image

Runs o’er fields and lakes with the slightest motions.

From your eyes a stream of pure reason flows on

Flowers and on beetles.

Evening’s here, the stars in the sky around us,

Look, the universe is a gilded cage now,

You, my captive bird, with your lovely chatter,

Stand in its middle.

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