Otakar Březina

“ Because of embrace of foes in enchantment of our loftiest season,
Blissful is life!
Because of celestial fragrance of newly-unfolded blossoms
In rapture of song, in glory of kisses,
Blissful is life!
Because of sublime weariness of builders,
Blissful is life!
Because of the starry spirit-gaze
Begirding earth on all sides together;
Crystal solitudes of the poles, of earliest ages, of ancient mountains, of statute, of number;
Silent oceans of blossoming light, of happiness, harvests, and night fall ”

“ And with cry of horror starts back, livid, and with grievous flaming of hands
Clasps her prey to ber breasts: a life, lamenting in contact with this sun;
In the clashing of a thousand wills, shattered by streams of thy mystical will,
Alone among all the myriads, man labours, countless hands are aquiver,
From age to age they are fixedly clutched, wearying never
On both hemispheres of earth . ”

“ Stretching forth with the whole universe into the endless!—
And our hands, enfolded amid a magical chain of countless hands,
Sway in the current of brotherly strength, which laps upon them from afar,
Ever more potent from pressure of ages. ”