Nature
Shorter Poems 37: On a Crystal enclosing a Drop of Water
Translated by Maurice Platnauer (1922) · From Shorter Poems
Safely hidden away in this round covering is a stream, an errant spring, enclosed within frozen waters. Mark you not how the crystal is all awash in its cavernous heart where living waters surge this way and that, and how, when the sun penetrates its frozen depths, the hues of the rainbow are reflected in it? Wonderful stone, wonderful water: stranger than all rivers and all stones because it is a stone and yet fluid.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Claudian. “Shorter Poems 37: On a Crystal enclosing a Drop of Water.” Translated by Maurice Platnauer. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/claudian/65/.
Chicago
Claudian. “Shorter Poems 37: On a Crystal enclosing a Drop of Water.” Translated by Maurice Platnauer. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/claudian/65/.
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