Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.
TranslationsFrom the French. To my Brooklet
By Jean François Ducis
T
Hid in the covert of the wood!
Ah, yes, like thee I fear the throng,
Like thee I love the solitude.
Lie all forgotten in their graves,
Till in my thoughts remain at last
Only thy peace, thy flowers, thy waves.
The nightingale, the marguerite;
In shadow here he meditates
His nest, his love, his music sweet.
Knows naught of error or of crime;
Thy waters, murmuring as they roll,
Transform his musings into rhyme.
Pursuing still thy course, shall I
List the soft shudder of the leaves,
And hear the lapwing’s plaintive cry?