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Home  »  Poetry: A Magazine of Verse  »  John Strong Newberry, trans.

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

The Little Silent Street

John Strong Newberry, trans.

From “Poems by Paul Fort”
Translated from the French

THE STORMY silence stirs and hums. Will there be none that this way comes?

Cobblestones count geraniums. Geraniums count the cobblestones.

Dream, young girl, at your casement high. Shelled green peas before you lie.

They plump the apron white you try with rosy fingertips to tie.

I pass, in black from head to feet. Is it forked lightning troubles thee,

Young maiden, or the sight of me? The peas have fallen in the street.

Sombre I pass. Behind I see cobblestones count each fallen pea.

The stormy silence stirs and hums. Will there be none that this way comes?