Thanks Robin!
I've enjoyed reading this - several times -
'And may God save the rest.'
Amen. Or, in my view of things post-Thatcher: And may God save us from the
rest.
Best
Árni
--
Árni Ibsen
Stekkjarkinn 19,
220 Hafnarfjördur,
Iceland
tel.: +354-555-3991
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.centrum.is/~aibsen/
on 12/30/02 8:19 AM, Robin Hamilton at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> ...as we're batting translations around.
>
> This is for Arni ...
>
> FOUR FOR MY FRIENDS
>
> XXVI
>
> Ah, God, if I had only studied
> In the time of my frantic youth,
> And pledged myself to continence,
> I'd have a bed, and a house fit for it.
> But so? I fled that school
> Like an unruly child,
> And while I write these words
> My heart is near to breaking ...
>
> XXVIII
>
> My days are quickly passed and gone:
> Just as, says Job, the threads part
> From a strip of cloth when the weaver
> Grips a burning straw in his fist:
> Then, if any end hangs loose,
> Suddenly it's carried off:
> So I no longer fear what's to come
> Since death closes all accounts.
>
> XXXIX
>
> Where are they now, the mental boys
> I vied with once in days gone by,
> The sweet singers, the sharp talkers,
> So quick to speak and act it too?
> Some of them are stark and dead,
> There is nothing left of them now:
> May they find their peace in Paradise,
> And may God save the rest.
>
> XXX
>
> And others have become, God bless them,
> Rulers and maintainers,
> While others beg in their native dirt
> And eat their meals through glass;
> Still others yet have got religion,
> Orthodox elders now born again,
> Have clothed themselves in religious habits -
> Only to think of these states of men.
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