Jaroslav Vrchlický

“ The spring of youth, concealed within the grass
Amid a thousand others, whence I drank
From many, and, 'tis very like, from youth:
And therefore all endured I with acclaim,
And therefore all, as in a mirror, I
Perceive within my soul, and now portray it.
The world is changed of aspect: I shall die
Like others, but my heritage remains:
The lust for seeing all and learning all,
To ransack all for the delight of man;
Legion shall be my sons: they shall proceed
Farther than I, but scarcely shall see more,
For earth sheds wonders as a snake its skin. ”

“ Thy comrade?—All!—Whom meetest thou in broil?—
All men are right, to whomsoe'er they pray.
What rat'st thou highest? Boundless liberty!—
Thou fear'st not death?—'Tis life in other guise.—
What recks thee fame?—Less than an insect's drone. ”

“ Is much, in sooth; but to behold and know
With one's own eyes the distant, ample lands,
And oceans, plains and star-tracks of the skies,
And divers folk, their habit, usage, gods,
This too, availeth somewhat, and hath charm
By special token of its newness, that
Doth ever change. And I have lived it through,
I, Marco Polo, Christian and Venetian.
"New Fragments of an Epic" (1894) .
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content. ”