2015. ápr. 24.

Dániel Berzsenyi: ODE







Oh God, beyond the highest power of man
To comprehend or to conceive, we know
Thee but by inward thoughts of bounded span,
And, even as the sun’s life-giving glow
Illumes the universe, we feel Thy might
Yet cannot narrow itt o our dim sight.

The utmost heavens, star-systems without end
Revolving round Thee, and the smallest worm
Invisible int he dust, alike proceed
From Thy great hand; Thy law is the vast norm
Whereby creation and all things that be
Adjust their difference and equality.

From the dark void Thou hast created, Lord,
A thousand species varied beyond ken;
Numberless planets perish at Thy word,
Dissolve to dust, and whirl to life again.
Thy wisdom measures time’s deep rivers still,
Zenith and Nadir do thy praises fill.

The tumult of the tempest, and the flame
Of fringéd lightning, do Thy works declare;
The dewdrop and the blossom both proclaim
Thou didst create all that is good and fair.
I kneel before Thy throne with ardent awe;
Would I were chainless andmight nearer draw

Till the blest hour when, from my fetters freed,
I may adore Thee even as Thou art,
I will seek what is good as my best meed,
Treading my destined road with steadfast heart,
And striving, while my strength sufficeth still,
To love Thy law and to obey Thy will.

The darkness of the grave serene I see
Looming before me: though ’tis rough and cold,
Why should I shun what is ordained by Thee?
Although it must at last my limbs enfold,
The vision gives my waiting heart no fear,
For also there I know that Thou art near.



DÁNIEL BERZSENYI (1776-1836), born at Egyházas-Hetye, enjoyed but a brief sojourn at scholl, and afterwards helped his father, a man of education, in agriculture. After his marriage, some specimens of his work reached Kazinczy, then the leader of the Hungarian literary world, who at once descried Berzsenyi’s genius, and encouraged it. The best representative of the old classical scholl, he studied and imitated Horace, and his Odes int he Horatian style have never been surpassed in Hungarian. Berzsenyi’s latter years were embittered by the censure of critics, and by broils with his best friends.

Forrás: MAGYAR POEMS. SELECTED AND TRANSLATED FROM THE HUNGARIAN WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. BY NORA DE VÁLLYI AND DOROTHY M. STUART. – LONDON, E. MARLBOROUGH AND CO., 1911.


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