DO NIEMNANiemnie, domowa rzeko moja! gdzie sa wody,Któóre niegdys czerpalem w niemowlece dlonie, Na któórych potem w dzikie plywalem ustronie, Sercu niespokojnemu szukajac ochlody? Tu Laura, patrzac z chluba na cien swej urody, Lubila wlos zaplatac i zakwiecac skronie, Tu obraz jej malowny w srebrnej fali lonie Lzami nieraz macilem, zapaleniec mlody. Niemnie, domowa rzeko, gdziez sa tamte zdroje. A z nimi tyle szczescia, nadziei tak wiele? Kedy jest mile latek dziecinnych wesele? Gdzie milsze burzliwego wieku niepokoje? Kedy jest Laura moja? gdzie sa przyjaciele?... Wszystko przeszlo, a czemuz nie przejda lzy moje! |
NIEMEN, RIVER OF MY YOUTHNiemen, river of my youth, where are the watersI once scooped with my infant hands Waters which I later swam to its wild retreats Seeking to cool my turbulent heart Here Laura, looking with pride at her beauty's shadow, Liked to braid her hair and garland her temples Here her image, portrayed in the lap of its silver waves, I sometimes distorted with my ardent youthful tears Niemen, river of my youth, where are those springs And with them all the happiness and those hopes? Where is the pleasant gaiety of childhood's years? Where are the tempestuous age's lovable worries? Where is my Laura? Where are my friends? Everything has vanished, why not my tears! Adam Mickiewicz translated by Peter K. Gessner |
| Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), Poland foremost Romantic poet, spent much of his life in exile from his native land. He composed the Niemen sonnet in 1926 while sentenced to exile in Russia. The Niemen River, with which he was very familiar in his youth, came to symbolize for him the land to which he no longer had access. |
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