On May 1st, couples gather at the statue of Karel Hynek Mácha, the Czech Romantic “poet of love”, in Prague’s Petřín Park where they lay flowers and spend a few moments. The park is a particularly romantic place in May when its cherry trees are in bloom. Since May 1st is a national holiday in the Czech Republic, lots of people come to Petřín for a stroll if the weather is nice.
Karel Hynek Mácha (1810 – 1836) was a great Czech Romantic poet and author of the epic poem Máj (May). The poem, written in a remarkably beautiful style, tells about the tragic love of two young people and has become a poetic masterpiece of the Czech Romantic period and Czech literature in general.
Karel Hynek Mácha: Máj (May)
Beginning verses in Czech:
Byl pozdní večer – první máj –
večerní máj – byl lásky čas.
Hrdliččin zval ku lásce hlas,
kde borový zaváněl háj.
O lásce šeptal tichý mech;
květoucí strom lhal lásky žel,
svou lásku slavík růži pěl,
růžinu jevil vonný vzdech.
Jezero hladké v křovích stinných
zvučelo temně tajný bol,
břeh objímal je kol a kol;
a slunce jasná světů jiných
bloudila blankytnými pásky,
planoucí tam co slzy lásky.
Translation by Edith Pargeter:
Late evening, on the first of May –
The twilit May – the time of love.
Meltingly called the turtle-dove,
Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay.
Whispered of love the mosses trail,
The flowering tree as sweetly lied,
The rose’s fragrant sigh replied
To love-songs of the nightingale.
In shadowy woods the burnished lake
Darkly complained a secret pain,
By circling shores embraced again;
And heaven’s clear sun leaned down to take
A road astray in azure deeps,
Like burning tears the lover weeps.
The complete poem and its English translation are available at www.lupomesky.cz/maj/may.html