Totius (J.D. du Toit) (1877-1953) – vertaal deur/translated by Ilze Gertenbach
The anguished thought
oh The anguished thought: My child is dead! …
as an arrow it burns in me.
Of this the people see nothing,
and the Lord alone knows of my suffering.
The days come and the nights pass;
the shadows grow and shorten again;
the driver’s voice of my work echoes,
and I carry my cross on life’s roads.
*
But all along my heart throbs in pain,
it robs the glow of my life, all vain:
Your child has died a terrible death!
and – I grab my chest from the pain.
oh The scorching thought! … Yes, darling child,
One flash torched your little body,
but lighting flashes numberless
make my inners burn and bleed no less.
As delicate as a butterfly was she,
that drifted about merrily;
her wings could break at wind’s lightest breath
and – just look at how she entered death!
How few the number of children that die this way,
it’s a chance out of ten thousand or so,
and oh! that it was h e r and I had to see
in my arms she collapsed in death!
oh The anguished thought: My child is dead! …
as an arrow it burns in me.
Of this the people see nothing,
and the Lord alone knows of my suffering.
(Translation of Die pyn-gedagte
Totius (J.D. du Toit) (1877-1953)
By Ilze Gertenbach)