Одън и шляенето

Преди време писах за У. Х. Одън в блога (тук), като сложих част от документален филм за него.

Съвсем наскоро (21 февруари) беше рождената му дата, затова сега ще добавя и любимо стихотворение.

А през октомври миналата година във Виена една от основните цели на разходките през деня беше да намеря паметната му плоча (Одън е починал в града). Не се наложи да търся дълго, защото плочата е на централно място - Walfischgasse 5, близо до Операта. Днес сградата вече не е хотел.

Съседите

Стихотворението е за важността на безцелните разходки.

Walks

by W. H. Auden

I choose the road from here to there

When I've a scandalous tale to bear,

Tools to return or books to lend

To someone at the other end.

Returning afterwards, although

I meet my footsteps toe to toe,

The road looks altogether new

Now that is done I meant to do.

But I avoid it when I take

A walker's walk for walking's sake:

The repetition it involves

Raises a doubt it never solves.

What good or evil angel bid

Me stop exactly when I did?

What would have happened had I gone

A kilometre further on?

No, when a fidget in the soul

Or cumulus clouds invite a stroll,

The route I pick goes roundabout

To finish where it started out.

It gets me home, this curving track,

Without my having to turn back,

Nor does it leave it up to me

To say how long my walk shall be,

Yet satisfies a moral need

By turning behaviour into deed,

For I have boxed my compass when

I enter my front door again.

The heart, afraid to leave her shell,

Demands a hundred yards as well

Between my personal abode

And either sort of public road,

Making, when it is added too,

The straight a T, the round a Q,

Allowing me in rain or shine

To call both walks entirely mine,

A lane no traveller would use,

Where prints that do not fit my shoes

Have looked for me and, like enough,

Were made by someone whom I love.