Obres
Ant žemės delno
Palei svyruoklius baltus
Žali šaltiniai alma.
Laiko mane kaip smiltį
Žemė ant savo delno.
Laiko ji mano kraują -
Gyvą raudoną šaltinį.
Mano meilę ir šauksmų, -
Vėtrą pavasarinę.
Ir mano rūpestį sunkų
Žemė kaip smiltį laiko.
Ar tu girdi mane -
Savo šaukiantį vaiką?
Laiko ji kryžius juodus,
Mano pelenus baltus...
Tenai vidudienį - vasarą -
Vėjas, kraupus ir šaltas...
Laikyk tu mano svajonę,
Mano žvaigždės likimą!
Saugok tu mano meilę,
Skausmą ir prakeikimą!
...Palei svyruoklius baltus
Žali šaltiniai alma.
Laiko žmogų kaip žvaigždę
Žemė ant savo delno.
Informació de l'obra i context de creació
Janina Degutyte’s childhood had a huge impact on her works. The mother was an alcoholic who sold all the property in the house and Janina had to take care of the family when she was still a teenager. By devising a variety of ways to make money, supported by teachers and struggling at home, the poet discovered culture as a shelter to the situation at home. So she started visiting libraries and reading books there until it closed. So she starts writing her first poems at school.
Other Lithuanian women writers of the post-war period were Judita Vaičiūnaitė and Aldona Liobytė.
"On the Palm of the Earth" was written in 1962. It consists of 6 strophes. It is a lyrical poem about the earth, it is like a mother who takes care of her child and gives everything that is best only to them. The earth is the mother and her children are the people of the world.
The poem begins with a view of the earth: Along the Pendulums White / Green Sources of Alma. In this stanza, as in the whole poem, much attention is paid to colours that are constantly changing. The earth is enlivened and described as a guardian who "keeps me like sand" on the palm of my hand. The land is large, and man is compared to a small sand. This caregiver considers not only the man, but also his blood - the "Living Red Fountain", the love and cry - the "Stormy Spring" and the care of the heavy. The earth must hear the man crying out to his child. But his cry is silent, and the earth does not answer him.
In the fourth stanza, the mood of the poem changes, it is depressing. The man disappears, and the earth holds the "cross black" and the "ash white." The white color of the ashes is like the opposite, the antithesis of the black colour of the cross. The "wind, grumpy and cold" helps to create a gloomy mood.
In the last stanza, a person is depicted as a talking star asking the earth to "keep your dream! / The fate of my star." Man, although turned into a star, not only has a dream, but also experiences love, pain, and cursing. All this must be protected by the land.
The last stanza goes back to the previous view of the earth, but this stanza describes the earth that "Time man as a star" is on her palm. The distant celestial body star is like the opposite of the sand of the earth, which is so small and so close.
In this poem by J. Degutytė, great attention is paid to the description of the image of the earth: the change of seasons - spring and summer, the change of colors - white, green, red, black and white. The antitheses of color are mentioned in the poem, the black cross is like the opposite of white ash. The things of nature come to life: the earth is like a guardian, the sand and the star are compared to man.