Page:Modern Czech Poetry, 1920.djvu/35

Rh Hundreds of brethren spake: We have fathomed its secret, Dead arise therein from slumber, living in slumber therein are dead; Lovers spake: Blinded are eyes by an over-great lustre And all are slain there by time, as by fragrance that unknown blossoms have shed; And they who had skill to gaze through the ages, „Earth?“ with a questioning smile, they said. “The Temple Builders” (1899).

Night softly sang, murmur of early grass and springtide rains Mingled its music with melancholy of her strains; On high the stars, radiant calyces unbounded. Breathed heavy scent of herbage unknown to earthly soil, And my brethren's hands, crossed as in death upon their breast, Lay in stillness and delusion like unto a stone oppressed, Smitten with toil.

But their spirit-hands to reach unto the stars were braced, Myriad souls upon the earth and in all worlds they enlaced And a long sigh of joyous awakenings, A deathless town's solemn throes, Rustling of spirit-wings, winds at play in mystical seedling-ground Unseen orchestras' intoning sound, Moving in tune with their secret gesture arose. “The Hands” (1901).