Willows (by the waterside) - Saules / Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau

from Looking and Playing in Space
III - Outdoor Sketches

Willows (by the waterside)

Willows by the waterside
Heads tilted
The wind combs their long hair
Shakes it out over the water
While they daydream
In vague delight
At the play of sunlight in their cold leaves
Or the night entangling their streams.

---
Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau
translated by George J. Dance

[All rights reserved by the translator - used with permission]




Saules

Les saules au bord de l'onde
La tête penchée
Le vent peigne leurs chevelures longues
Les agite au-dessus de l'eau
Pendant qu'ils songent
Et se plaisent indéfiniment
Aux jeux du soleil dans leur feuillage froid
Ou quand la nuit emmêle ses ruissellements.

---
Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943)
de Regards et Jeux dans L'espace, 1937

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the European Union]

Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau biography