Laurel · Sándor Petőfi · Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet

Cypress Leaves I

Sándor Petőfi (1823–1849), translated by John Bowring · 1866

trochaic trimeter · 36 lines · from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet

Two long days thy bodyOn its bier reposed,And thy lips were speechless,And thine eyelids closed.

And I kissed thy forehead—Tablet of my bliss—Then I felt the anguishOf the unwelcomed kiss.

O thou broken altar!Kissing thy cold brow,In that kiss my spiritFroze to chilling snow.

Then I kissed the cerements,Then I kissed the bier,Heard the knell of exile,Dropt the farewell tear,

Saw the torches flamingO'er the coffin there,Heard the chant funereal,My response—despair!

There I stood—mute statue!On the senseless sod—Heard upon the coffinFall the earthly clod.

Heard it, yet perceived notAll the weight of woe:Dreamed—and yet believed notSuch an overthrow.

To the world I turned me,From its wild confusion—Asked for my lost treasure,In my soul's delusion.

Idly, vainly sought it,Then I hastened home,And shall mourn for everO'er my hopeless doom.

Words in this poem

bier n.: A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
reposed a.: Composed; calm; tranquil; at rest.
speechless a.: Destitute or deprived of the faculty of speech.
clod n.: A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Cypress Leaves I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Sándor Petőfi, Cypress Leaves I, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/cypress-leaves-i.html, id L29803.

Form and metre

Cypress Leaves I is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).

See other poems in trochaic trimeter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

1 -A-A body · reposed^A · speechless · closed^A
2 -A-A forehead · bliss^A · anguish · kiss^A
4 -A-A cerements · bier^A · exile · tear^A
5 -A-A flaming · there^A · funereal · despair^A
6 -A-A statue · sod^A · coffin · clod^A
7 ABAB not^A · woe^B · not^A · overthrow^B
8 -A-A me · confusion^A · treasure · delusion^A

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic trimeter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Two long days thy body	6	····/˘
On its bier reposed,	6	···/·˘
And thy lips were speechless,	6	····/˘
And thine eyelids closed.	6	··/··˘
And I kissed thy forehead—	6	····/˘
Tablet of my bliss—	5	/˘···
Then I felt the anguish	6	····/˘
Of the unwelcomed kiss.	6	··˘/˘·
O thou broken altar!	6	··/˘/˘
Kissing thy cold brow,	5	/˘···
In that kiss my spirit	6	····/˘
Froze to chilling snow.	5	··/˘·
Then I kissed the cerements,	7	·······
Then I kissed the bier,	6	···˘··
Heard the knell of exile,	6	····/·
Dropt the farewell tear,	5	···/·
Saw the torches flaming	6	··/˘/˘
O'er the coffin there,	5	··/˘·
Heard the chant funereal,	7	···˘/˘˘
My response—despair!	5	·˘/˘/
There I stood—mute statue!	6	····/·
On the senseless sod—	5	··/˘·
Heard upon the coffin	6	····/˘
Fall the earthly clod.	5	··/˘·
Heard it, yet perceived not	6	···˘/·
All the weight of woe:	5	·····
Dreamed—and yet believed not	6	···˘/·
Such an overthrow.	5	··/˘·
To the world I turned me,	6	······
From its wild confusion—	6	···˘/˘
Asked for my lost treasure,	6	····/˘
In my soul's delusion.	6	···˘/˘
Idly, vainly sought it,	6	/˘/˘··
Then I hastened home,	6	··/˘˘·
And shall mourn for ever	6	····/˘
O'er my hopeless doom.	5	··/˘·

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet