GR translation: Though thy Glass today be run

Jochen Stremmel jstremmel at gmail.com
Fri May 13 04:02:35 CDT 2016


I'm surely not the only one on the list to know this great poem:

My prime of youth, is but a frost of Cares,
My feast of joy, is but a dish of pain,
My Crop of Corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain:
    The day is past, and yet I saw no Sun,
    And now I live, and now my life is done.

The Spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung;
The fruit is dead, and yet the leaves are green:
My youth is gone, and yet I am but young:
I saw the world, and yet I was not seen.
    My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun:
    And now I live, and now my life is done.

I sought my death, and found it in my womb,
I look'd for life, and saw it was a shade:
I trod the earth, and knew it was my tomb,
And now I die, and now I am but made.
    The glass is full, and now my glass is run,
    And now I live, and now my life is done.

I wonder if you have to be not a native speaker to recognize what it makes
so special.

2016-05-13 9:22 GMT+02:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:

> V760.28-35, P776.1-8
> There is a Hand to turn the time,
> Though thy Glass today be run,
> Till the Light that hath brought the Towers low
> Find the last poor Pret’rite one . . .
> Till the Riders sleep by ev’ry road,
> All through our crippl’d Zone,
> With a face on ev’ry mountainside,
> And a Soul in ev’ry stone. . . .
>
> I assume the "Glass" means hourglass, is that correct?
>
> Also, is the "Hand" the Hand of God?  And what exactly is the sense of
> "Though" here?
>
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