"You know, man wakes up in the night gasping for air... He reaches out in the dark and looks for a hand. He cannot understand that the other person is no longer there, not around, in the next house or on the street. No matter how he walks down the street, the other person cannot meet him. (...) In this potty, luscious, magical state, in the mental state of the waiting and needy lovers, there is something of the ecstasy of the hypnotized; their look is also like that of patients who wake up from a deep sleep with a dazed look, slowly raising their eyelashes. They see nothing in the world but a face, hear nothing but a name. But one day they wake up. They look around, rubbing their eyes. They no longer only see that face... more precisely, they also see that face, but dimly. It's a strange feeling. What was unbearable yesterday, it hurt and burned, today it doesn't hurt anymore. You are sitting on a bench and you are calm.
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Author
Márai SándorAll Translations
All Translations
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You know, man wakes up in the night gasping for air... He reaches out in the dark and looks for a hand. He cannot understand that the other person is no longer there, not around, in the next house or on the street. No matter how he walks down the street, the other person cannot meet him. (...) In this potty, luscious, magical state, in the mental state of the waiting and needy lovers, there is something of the ecstasy of the hypnotized; their look is also like that of patients who wake up from a deep sleep with a dazed look, slowly raising their eyelashes. They see nothing in the world but a face, hear nothing but a name. But one day they wake up. They look around, rubbing their eyes. They no longer only see that face... more precisely, they also see that face, but dimly. It's a strange feeling. What was unbearable yesterday, it hurt and burned, today it doesn't hurt anymore. You are sitting on a bench and you are calm.
""Tudod, az ember felébred éjjel és levegő után kapkod... Kinyújtja kezét a sötétben, és egy kezet keres. Nem bírja megérteni, hogy a másik nincs többé, nincs a közelben, a szomszéd házban vagy utcában. Hiába megy az utcán, a másik nem jöhet vele szemközt. (...) Ebben a kancsi, delejes, mágikus állapotban, a várakozó és nélkülöző szerelmesek lelki állapotában van valami a hipnotizáltak önkívületéből; olyan a pillantásuk is, mint a betegeké, akik ájult-tikkadt pillantással, lassú szempillafelvetéssel, a delejes álomból ébrednek. Ezek nem látnak mást a világból, csak egy arcot, nem hallanak mást, csak egy nevet. De egy napon felébrednek. Körülnéznek, szemük dörzsölik. Már nemcsak azt az arcot látják... pontosabban, azt az arcot is látják, de homályosan. Különös érzés ez. Amit tegnap még nem lehetett elviselni, úgy fájt és égetett, ma nem fáj többé. Ülsz egy padon és nyugodt vagy."