Power flashes unseen through the root
That drinks rain, feeds on earth below;
And its dream is white as snow.
Its path thrust up from underground,
lt is sly, this root, it creeps—
With its many arms like ropes.
Worms are sleeping on its arms,
To one leg a worm has stuck:
The world begins to teem with worms.
Not concerned with the world—just
With a branch hung thick with leaves—
Still, down there, the root survives.
This branch it adores and nurtures,
Sending up to it good flavours,
Sweet, heavenly flavours.
Now I am a root myself,
I am living among worms—
That is where I write these lines.
Once flower above, now root below:
Earth weighs upon rne, dark and low.
This was ordained my destiny.
A saw is wailing over me.
Miklós Radnóti (1909 - 1944) Hungary
Translated by Clive Wilmer and George Gömöri
That drinks rain, feeds on earth below;
And its dream is white as snow.
Its path thrust up from underground,
lt is sly, this root, it creeps—
With its many arms like ropes.
Worms are sleeping on its arms,
To one leg a worm has stuck:
The world begins to teem with worms.
Not concerned with the world—just
With a branch hung thick with leaves—
Still, down there, the root survives.
This branch it adores and nurtures,
Sending up to it good flavours,
Sweet, heavenly flavours.
Now I am a root myself,
I am living among worms—
That is where I write these lines.
Once flower above, now root below:
Earth weighs upon rne, dark and low.
This was ordained my destiny.
A saw is wailing over me.
Miklós Radnóti (1909 - 1944) Hungary
Translated by Clive Wilmer and George Gömöri
Source: Forced march : selected poems by Radnóti, Miklós, translated by Clive Wilmer and George Gömöri, Carcanet New press, 1979
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