Nostalgie from a Hungarian Emigrant

Wass Albert: Message home

Bavarian Forest, 1948.

Message to the mountains at home:
The movements of stars are variable.
And there are laws for the winds
rains, snows and the clouds
There is no eternal bad weather!
The water runs, the stone remains
the stone remains.

Message to the earth: continue giving,
even when your plants are chewed by locust.
Tolerate, even when ia mole eats your roots.
The world is wached by Order
The precious seed of grain is not lost,
No one will even know about the nettle;
The time will destroy the weeds.
The water runns, the stone remains
the stone remains.

Message to the forest, do not worry,
even when your trees are destroyed.
because the wood is stronger then the knife
from bleeding rests will come again at spring
A new forest in triumph will arise.
And there will always be trees, when the killer
rust has already devoured the iron
and killer hand facied the holy reparations
become a useful material for the underground ...
The water runs, the stone remains
the stone remains.

My message to the house, which grew me up:
even if it will be put down to earth,
all that was taken care for generations
Builders will come and happy again
will dig out your foundations
and on the ancient white stones
walls will be raised, roofs and a church.
thousand builders will come
and will construct a peace wall
not with human blood and ashes
but with holy water and wheat bread
and will build from old stone a new home.

My message to my house, which brought me up:
The fondation is from the God
and the God gives also the will,
which will rebuild the walls.
The water runs, the stone remains
the stone remains.

And my message was to my old friends
who denies today even my name:
If the wheel turns once again,
I'll be your friend even then
and there will be no revenge, hatred, anger.
We’ll give our hands to each other and go
and we will be one goal and one will:
the water runs, but the stone remains
the stone remains.

And my message to everyone
brother, relative, stranger,
evil, good, faithful and ennemi,
whom is in pain, and whose
hands stick of driping blood:
Take care and pray!
Somewhere up in the sky
The stars begun to move slowly
The water runs and only the stone remains
the stone remains.

The righteous and good will remain.
The clean and peaceful.
Forests, mountains, people’ll testimony.
Think about what to do!

On construit already in heaven the sieve
lubricate the shaft of the stars
the industrious angels.
And again the stars will turn
and as the Bible proclaims:
The son of man will be weighted
As each have done, will receive
Because the water runs and only the stone remains
but the stone remains.
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Written after the second war, alas some had to wait till 1989, and some were no more there then any more - the verse is said in Hungarian so wonderful by an old actor, who alas, does not live either any more but whose words went directly to my heart