Poetry Day

April 11 has been Poetry Day since 1964 in Hungary. This special day was created in honor of József Attila, who was one of our greatest poets. Today day is his birthday.
If you are interested on facts about his life, and have the time to read a brilliant translation of some of his poetry, visit this. It is pdf file, and it takes some time to load, but it's worth it.

He was labelled as a believer of communism, a politically left-sided poet, who cared about the distress of the proletariat. This is the official opinion about his work. There are many, including skilled gnosticists and alchemists who believe that there's more to that. Some of his poems reveal the way he was blessed/burdened with such an insight into the matter of things and to ultimate reasons. He looked deeper and found more than an average person might do. Politically and spiritually alike.

The official saying goes that his schizophrenia (a split personality disease) was the main reason he committed suicide at age 43 - but there might be more than that, too.

And finally, he, besides Remenyik Sándor, is my favourite Hungarian poet. Translating József Attila would be too much of a task for me and I would definitely be in need of a native speaker's sensitive help... When I was a teenager, I learned some of his poems by heart. Those I have forgotten, but everytime I re-read them, they ring a special tone. They are burnt within me.

Now I'm leaving you - some work, a lunch and some reading. On Poetry Day - some poetry.