European Elegies/Winter/The old bridge
43.THE OLD BRIDGE
About the bridge's crumbling piersThe quiet river ripples by.We lean to hear its liquid sigh:Its ancient story fills our ears.
It tells of lovers long agoWho loitered on this parapet,And learned, as we do, how to letLove sway them like the stream below.
It tells how, with the years that glide,Matrons, once maids, passed here again,Pale with maternal care and pain,Their tender children by their side.
It tells how centuries unguessedHave rolled by slowly since the dayIt saw them, hearse-borne, take their wayAcross the bridge to their last rest.
Alas, how soon we too are gone!That babbled message chills the blood:Man fades down time's lethean flood;Earth's crumbling arch lasts dully on.
From the Catalan of Emili Guanyavents.