Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.
Eternity
By John Strong Newberry, trans.
From “Poems by Paul Fort”
Translated from the French
ONE does not need to credit death. The human heart to rest is fain. O’er sleeping fields the evening’s breath dreams, and I hear eternity chime in the bending ears of grain.
“Hark!—an angelus dies in heaven’s blue height.” Be comforted. Hours pass away. Hushed is the belfry? God doth wake. The nightingale salutes the day hid in the turret’s rose-tree brake, and in its turn will mourn the night.
“Hark!—once again the hour doth swell.” But the bell’s already fast asleep. Eternity is chiming deep, borne by the sweet, tormented breath of zephyr and of Philomel.
