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

V - „'Tis enough if it shines for me” - The Ceremonial Opening of the Bridge (Thomas Cooper)

“I’m rich, and yet no more find joy

In wealth,” another lifts his head.

“And I was true, then my betrothed,

He took my sister’s hand instead!”

They rest now in the riverbed.

“I swore to shoot with steady hand

In duel, my oath became my doom.”

“I lay aside my modesty,

And gave away my maiden bloom,

And now the river is my groom.”

They come now no more one by one,

A legion, and they speechless leap,

Like fish that circle in the seas,

Like seagulls swooping to the deep,

They come, they plunge, they speechless sleep.

The shower falls in swollen drops,

That splash in waters dark below.

New faces rise and fall, the crowd

Of souls who have abandoned hope,

The river bears them in its flow.

The boy looks on, but nothing sees,

His mind is dazed, his vision dim,

But as the twisting waters swirl,

More raucous, rapid, vicious, grim,

He feels the currents grasp at him.

The human hand, too feeble, frail

To break cruel fate’s unyielding chains

Or shake free of the storm’s fierce wail.

The church bells toll the hour again,

The bridge is empty, silence reigns.