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Ignatow, David: A múlt éjjel (Last night in Hungarian)

Portre of Ignatow, David
Portre of Tellér Gyula

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Last night (English)

Last night I spoke to a dead woman with green face.
She told me of her good life among the living,
with a faithful man. He was right there
beside her as tall as I, and moving
like me, with kind motions. If she did breathe,
it was just to talk and tell her life
in their basement smelling moist
like freshly opened earth. He was good to her
and she had worked as a typist
every day and came home to cook.
It was a good life with her husband,
he was kind; and she took hold of his hand
and said, 'In this basement we've made a home,
with me working as typist and he studying
his music.' She was dead, that much she understood
herself by her tone; and she looked at me
with green eyes.



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://literature.proquestlearning.com

A múlt éjjel (Hungarian)

A múlt éjjel zöld-arcú holt nővel beszéltem.
Mesélt élők között élt szép, jó életéről,
hű férje oldalán. Ott volt a férfi is
mellette, mint én, oly magas, s úgy is mozgott,
akárcsak én, szelídeden. S ha a nő lélegzetet vett:
csak annyit épp, hogy elmondhassa életét,
pincelakásukban, mely nyirkos föld szagú,
akár a friss gödör. A férfi jól bánik vele,
ő meg gépírónőként dolgozik
nap mint nap, s aztán főz is otthon.
Férjével szép az élete.
Kedves ember, a nő megfogta a kezét
s így szólt: „Otthont teremtettünk e pincelakásban,
én, ki mint gépírónő dolgozom, és ő, aki
zenét tanul." A nő ekkor halott volt már s hangján maga is
érezte ezt, míg rám emelte
zöld szemét.



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationT. Gy.

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