Poem
Guido Gezelle
EGO FLOS
I am a flowerand bloom before your eyes,
o mighty blazing sun,
steadfast eternally,
who’ll spare me, creature, in
my little earthly life,
and will hereafter grant me
life in eternity.
I am a flower,
and in the morning open,
at eve I close my leaf,
so that alternately,
whenever you, o sun,
will rise again and stir me,
I may awake once more
or yield my head to sleep.
My life is in
your light: my work, my wanting,
my hope, my happiness,
my only and my all;
what is there without you,
but ever, ever dying,
what have I without you
to love with all my soul?
I’m far from you,
although you, sweetest spring
of everything that lives
or from which life does flow,
yet come so close to me
and send, o dearest sun,
into my deepest deep
your all-pervading glow.
Lift, undo! . . .
untie my earthly fetters;
uproot me, and unearth me! . . .
hence, o let me, there
where always summer reigns
and sunlight let me hasten,
and where, eternal, one,
all-fairest flower you stand.
Let all the things
be past, and gone, departed,
that still divide us now,
like chasms between us stand;
let morning, evening, all
that’s fleeting, flee now from me,
let me your endless light
behold, in Heaven’s land!
Then I’ll before . . .
o, not before your eyes,
but by you, near to you,
but in you blossom soon;
if in that life you’ll let
me, creature, have my being,
if your eternal light
you’ll let me enter then.
© Translation: 1960, Theodoor Weevers
From: Poetry in the Netherlands
Publisher: The Athlone Press, London, 1960
From: Poetry in the Netherlands
Publisher: The Athlone Press, London, 1960
EGO FLOS
EGO FLOS
Ik ben een blommeen bloeie vóór uwe oogen,
geweldig zonnelicht,
dat, eeuwig onontaard,
mij, nietig schepselken,
in ’t leven wilt gedoogen
en, na dit leven, mij
het eeuwig leven spaart.
Ik ben een blomme
en doe des morgens open,
des avonds toe mijn blad,
om beurtelings, nadien,
wanneer gij, zonne, zult,
heropgestaan, mij nopen,
te ontwaken nog eens of
mijn hoofd den slaap te biên.
Mijn leven is
uw licht: mijn doen, mijn derven,
mijn’ hope, mijn geluk
mijn éénigste en mijn al;
wat kan ik, zonder u,
als eeuwig, eeuwig sterven;
wat heb ik, zonder u,
dat ik beminnen zal?
’k Ben ver van u,
ofschoon gij, zoete bronne
van al dat leven is
of immer leven doet,
mij naast van al genaakt
en zendt, o lieve zonne,
tot in mijn diepste diep
uw aldoorgaanden gloed.
Haalt op, haalt af! . . .
onbindt mijne aardsche boeien;
ontwortelt mij, ontdelft
mij! . . . Henen laat mij, . . . laat
daar \'t altijd zomer is
en zonnelicht mij spoeien
en daar gij, eeuwige, ééne,
alschoone blomme, staat.
Laat alles zijn
voorbij, gedaan, verleden,
dat afscheid tusschen ons
en diepe kloven spant;
laat morgen, avond, al
dat heenmoet henentreden
laat uw oneindig licht
mij zien, in \'t Vaderland!
Dan zal ik vóór . . .
o neen, niet vóór uwe oogen
maar naast u, nevens u,
maar in u bloeien zaan;
zoo gij mij, schepselken,
in \'t leven wilt gedoogen;
zoo in uw eeuwig licht
me gij laat binnengaan!
© 1898, Guido Gezelle
From: Poëzie en proza
Publisher: Bert Bakker, Amsterdam
From: Poëzie en proza
Publisher: Bert Bakker, Amsterdam
Poems
Poems of Guido Gezelle
Close
EGO FLOS
I am a flowerand bloom before your eyes,
o mighty blazing sun,
steadfast eternally,
who’ll spare me, creature, in
my little earthly life,
and will hereafter grant me
life in eternity.
I am a flower,
and in the morning open,
at eve I close my leaf,
so that alternately,
whenever you, o sun,
will rise again and stir me,
I may awake once more
or yield my head to sleep.
My life is in
your light: my work, my wanting,
my hope, my happiness,
my only and my all;
what is there without you,
but ever, ever dying,
what have I without you
to love with all my soul?
I’m far from you,
although you, sweetest spring
of everything that lives
or from which life does flow,
yet come so close to me
and send, o dearest sun,
into my deepest deep
your all-pervading glow.
Lift, undo! . . .
untie my earthly fetters;
uproot me, and unearth me! . . .
hence, o let me, there
where always summer reigns
and sunlight let me hasten,
and where, eternal, one,
all-fairest flower you stand.
Let all the things
be past, and gone, departed,
that still divide us now,
like chasms between us stand;
let morning, evening, all
that’s fleeting, flee now from me,
let me your endless light
behold, in Heaven’s land!
Then I’ll before . . .
o, not before your eyes,
but by you, near to you,
but in you blossom soon;
if in that life you’ll let
me, creature, have my being,
if your eternal light
you’ll let me enter then.
© 1960, Theodoor Weevers
From: Poetry in the Netherlands
Publisher: 1960, The Athlone Press, London
From: Poetry in the Netherlands
Publisher: 1960, The Athlone Press, London
EGO FLOS
I am a flowerand bloom before your eyes,
o mighty blazing sun,
steadfast eternally,
who’ll spare me, creature, in
my little earthly life,
and will hereafter grant me
life in eternity.
I am a flower,
and in the morning open,
at eve I close my leaf,
so that alternately,
whenever you, o sun,
will rise again and stir me,
I may awake once more
or yield my head to sleep.
My life is in
your light: my work, my wanting,
my hope, my happiness,
my only and my all;
what is there without you,
but ever, ever dying,
what have I without you
to love with all my soul?
I’m far from you,
although you, sweetest spring
of everything that lives
or from which life does flow,
yet come so close to me
and send, o dearest sun,
into my deepest deep
your all-pervading glow.
Lift, undo! . . .
untie my earthly fetters;
uproot me, and unearth me! . . .
hence, o let me, there
where always summer reigns
and sunlight let me hasten,
and where, eternal, one,
all-fairest flower you stand.
Let all the things
be past, and gone, departed,
that still divide us now,
like chasms between us stand;
let morning, evening, all
that’s fleeting, flee now from me,
let me your endless light
behold, in Heaven’s land!
Then I’ll before . . .
o, not before your eyes,
but by you, near to you,
but in you blossom soon;
if in that life you’ll let
me, creature, have my being,
if your eternal light
you’ll let me enter then.
© 1960, Theodoor Weevers
From: Poetry in the Netherlands
Publisher: 1960, The Athlone Press, London
From: Poetry in the Netherlands
Publisher: 1960, The Athlone Press, London
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