38
MODERN BOHEMIAN POETRY
Jaromír Borecký (b. 1869).
TO A NEW MORNING
I know not what 'twas o'er me stole,
As if the ice were rent apart,
That for a longdrawn span of dole
In chains had fettered fast my heart.
Once more I feel exultant powers,
E'en as the lark on high doth soar,
Or like the blue-bell 'mid the flowers,
When that the mend is docked once more.
The hawthorn whispers from its spray,
The torrent from the clump of firs,
That once again has dawned my day,
Or—love once more my being stirs.
"The Psalter of Poets" (1905).
Otakar Březina (b. 1868).
MY MOTHER
Thro' life my mother, as in sad atonement, paced,
Of fragrances, hues, blossoms, light, her day was bare;
Dry is the fruit of life, and hath an ashen taste,
That, unrefreshed, she from the tree of time did tear.
