Arany János - Győrei Zsolt (szerk.): The trill of the nightingale (Budapest, 2019)

II - „dead bark burning in a hole” - Looking Back (Thomas Cooper)

Looking Back

And I lived too, for what is life?

A struggle one begins at birth,

And fights for decades, just a few,

And one fares better or fares worse.

Yes I lived too, the little raft On which the wet nurse places child Was rocked by gentle swell and surge,

And buffeted by waters wild

Dark clouds loomed gloomy over me The first day I looked at the sky.

And in due time I learned to laugh Though always knew I how to cry.

The cup of pleasures never brimmed,

Nor ever was half full in truth,

From just beyond an iron fence,

I watched the joyful blooms of youth.

I reached out once or twice to pluck A rose, but always reached too slow,

I shook the stem, the petals shook And drifted to the dust below.

I sought contentment, he remained A stranger never met, though I Searched half the world for him, and yet Looked past him when he happened by.

I longed for independence too,

But chose instead to bear my chains,

Lest struggle prompt the baleful fates To strew my path with further pains,

A wild beast caught, which cannot break The heavy cords which hold him bound,

But with each thrash grows more enmeshed And winds the net more tightly round.