Mythology & Folklore

Version Of A Fragment Of Simonides

by William Cullen Bryant 1794–1878

Translated by William Cullen Bryant · From Poetical Works, Household Edition (1880)

Mythology & Folklore

The night winds howled, the billows dashed
Against the tossing chest,
As Danaë 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!"

✦ ✦ ✦

Translated by Bryant from a fragment of Simonides.

MLA

Bryant, William Cullen. “Version Of A Fragment Of Simonides.” Translated by William Cullen Bryant. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bryant/115/.

Chicago

Bryant, William Cullen. “Version Of A Fragment Of Simonides.” Translated by William Cullen Bryant. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bryant/115/.

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