The Sleeper of the Valley
The Sleeper of the Valley
Original Text
The Poets of Modern France, trans. Lugwig Lewisohn. New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1918. 81. Internet Archive.
1There's a green hollow where a river sings
2Silvering the torn grass in its glittering flight,
3And where the sun from the proud mountain flings
4Fire and the little valley brims with light.
5A soldier young, with open mouth, bare head,
6Sleeps with his neck in dewy water cress,
7Under the sky and on the grass his bed,
8Pale in the deep green and the light's excess.
9He sleeps amid the iris and his smile
10Is like a sick child's slumbering for a while.
11Nature, in thy warm lap his chilled limbs hide!
12The perfume does not thrill him from his rest.
13He sleeps in sunshine, hand upon his breast,
14Tranquil with two red holes in his right side.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
Data entry: Sharine Leung
RPO Edition
2012
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