European Elegies/Autumn (1)/Grey hours
3.GREY HOURS
Grey hours of grieving, grey as falling night, Enfold my brain. . .cold, livid snake-coils cleaving Clammily round my heart and with their weavingWaking old wounds of weariness and frightAnd stifling hope and faith with slimy might— Grey hours of grieving.
Sombre as storm-wrack o'er bright plains upheaving,Blotting the blue from out the gleaming height,They bring my life its cup of aconite— Grey hours of grieving.
I loved with untold love, and fate's bereavingLeaves me to mourn to-day untold delight:Crushed daily by a serpent parasite, Dazed daily by a poison past relieving— Grey hours of grieving.
From the Polish of W. Nawrocki.