STAGNANT HOURS

by: Maurice Maeterlinck

      ERE are the old desires that pass,
      The dreams of weary men, that die,
      The dreams that faint and fail, alas!
      And there the days of hope gone by!
       
      Where to fly shall we find a place?
      Never a star shines late or soon:
      Weariness only with frozen face,
      And sheets of blue in the icy moon.
       
      Behold the fireless sick, and lo!
      The sobbing victims of the snare!
      Lambs whose pasture is only snow!
      Pity them all, O Lord, my prayer!
       
      For me, I wait the awakening call:
      I pray that slumber leave me soon.
      I wait until the sunlight fall
      On hands yet frozen by the moon.

This English translation of 'Stagnant Hours' is reprinted from Poems by Maurice Maeterlinck. Trans. Bernard Miall. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1915.

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