Ezra Pound. The Fish and the Shadow. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

The Fish and the Shadow

By Ezra Pound


THE SALMON-TROUT drifts in the stream,
The soul of the salmon-trout floats over the stream
Like a little wafer of light.
The salmon moves in the sun-shot, bright, shallow sea. . . . . . .
As light as the shadow of the fish	5
that falls through the water,
She came into the large room by the stair.
Yawning a little she came with the sleep still upon her.

“I’m just from bed. The sleep is still in my eyes.
Come. I have had a long dream.”	10

And I: “That wood?
And two springs have passed us!”

“Not so far—no, not so far now.
There is a place—but no one else knows it—
A field in a valley …	15
“qu’ieu sui avinen

Ieu lo sai.”

She must speak of the time
Of Arnaut de Mareuil, I thought, “qu’ieu sui avinen.”

Light as the shadow of the fish	20
That falls through the pale green water.