Kochanowski, Jan
Lament XV
http://www.wolnelektury.pl/lektura/laments
http://wolnelektury.pl/katalog/lektura/treny-tren-xv
Prall, Dorothea
Kozioł, Paweł
Lech, Justyna
Niedziałkowska, Marta
Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska
Renesans
Liryka
Tren
Publikacja zrealizowana w ramach projektu Wolne Lektury (http://wolnelektury.pl). Reprodukcja cyfrowa wykonana przez Bibliotekę Narodową z egzemplarza pochodzącego ze zbiorów BN. Dofinansowano ze środków Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego.
http://wolnelektury.pl/katalog/lektura/laments-lament-xv
http://polona.pl/item/333575/1/
Jan Kochanowski, Laments, University of California Press, Berkeley 1920
Domena publiczna - Dorothea Prall
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2014-11-18
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Jan Kochanowski
Laments
Lament XV
Golden-locked EratoErato --- the Muse of lyric poetry., and thou, sweet lute,/
The comfort of the sad and destitute,/
Calm thou my sorrow, lest I too become/
A marble pillar shedding through the dumb/
But living stone my almost bloody tears,/
A monument of grief for coming years./
For when we think of mankind's evil chance/
Does not our private grief gain temperance?/
Unhappy motherUnhappy mother --- Niobe, cf. Lament IV. (if 'tis evil hap/
We blame when caught in our own folly's trap)/
Where are thy sons and daughters, seven each,/
The joyful cause of thy too boastful speech?/
I see their fourteen stones, and thou, alas,/
Who from thy misery wouldst gladly pass/
To death, dost kiss the tombs, O wretched one,/
Where lies thy fruit so cruelly undone./
Thus blossoms fall where some keen sickle passes/
And so, when rain doth level them, green grasses./
What hope canst thou yet harbor in thee? Why/
Dost thou not drive thy sorrow hence and die?/
And thy swift arrows, PhoebusPhoebus --- Apollo, Greek god of sun., what do they?/
And thine unerring bow, DianaDiana --- Roman goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity; her Greek counterpart is Artemis.? Slay/
Her, ye avenging gods, if not in rage,/
Then out of pity for her desolate age./
A punishment for pride before unknown/
Hath fallen: Niobe is turned to stone,/
And borne in whirlwind arms o'er seas and lands,/
On SipylusSipylus --- a mountain often mentioned in Greek mythology, presently Mount Spil in Turkey. in deathless marble stands./
Yet from her living wounds a crystal fountain/
Of tears flows through the rock and down the mountain,/
Whence beast and bird may drink; but she, in chains,/
Fixed in the path of all the winds remains./
This tomb holds naught, this woman hath no tomb:/
To be both grave and body is her doom.