-
On the calm black water
-
where the stars are sleeping
-
White Ophelia floats
-
like a great lily;
-
Floats very slowly,
-
lying in her long veils...
-
- In the far-off woods
-
you can hear them sound the mort.
-
For more than a thousand years
-
sad Ophelia
-
Has passed, a white phantom,
-
down the long black river.
-
For more than a thousand years
-
her sweet madness
-
Has murmured its ballad
-
to the evening breeze.
-
The wind kisses her breasts
-
and unfolds in a wreath
-
Her great veils
-
rising and falling with the waters;
-
The shivering willows
-
weep on her shoulder,
-
The rushes lean over her wide,
-
dreaming brow.
-
The ruffled water-lilies
-
are sighing around her;
-
At times she rouses,
-
in a slumbering alder,
-
Some nest from which escapes
-
a small rustle of wings;
-
- A mysterious anthem
-
falls from the golden stars.
-
O pale Ophelia!
-
beautiful as snow!
-
Yes child, you died,
-
carried off by a river!
-
- It was the winds descending from
-
the great mountains of Norway
-
That spoke to you in low voices
-
of better freedom.
-
It was a breath of wind, that,
-
twisting your great hair,
-
Brought strange rumors
-
to your dreaming mind;
-
It was your heart listening
-
to the song of Nature
-
In the groans of the tree
-
and the sighs of the nights;
-
It was the voice of mad seas,
-
the great roar,
-
That shattered your child's heart,
-
too human and too soft;
-
It was a handsome pale knight,
-
a poor madman
-
Who one April morning
-
sate mute at your knees!
-
Heaven! Love! Freedom!
-
What a dream, oh poor crazed Girl!
-
You melted to him
-
as snow does to a fire;
-
Your great visions
-
strangled your words
-
- And fearful Infinity
-
terrified your blue eye!
-
- And the poet says
-
that by starlight
-
You come seeking, in the night,
-
the flowers that you picked
-
And that he has seen on the water,
-
lying in her long veils
-
White Ophelia floating, like a great
-
lily.
