The Poetry Corner

Version Of A Fragment Of Simonides. (Translations.)

By William Cullen Bryant

The night winds howled, the billows dashed Against the tossing chest; And Dana to her broken heart Her slumbering infant pressed. "My little child", in tears she said, "To wake and weep is mine, But thou canst sleep, thou dost not know Thy mother's lot, and thine. "The moon is up, the moonbeams smile, They tremble on the main; But dark, within my floating cell, To me they smile in vain. "Thy folded mantle wraps thee warm, Thy clustering locks are dry, Thou dost not hear the shrieking gust, Nor breakers booming high. "As o'er thy sweet unconscious face A mournful watch I keep, I think, didst thou but know thy fate, How thou wouldst also weep. "Yet, dear one, sleep, and sleep, ye winds That vex the restless brine, When shall these eyes, my babe, be sealed As peacefully as thine!"