Sleeping together... how tired you were...
How warm our room... how the firelight spread
On walls and ceiling and great white bed!
We spoke in whispers as children do,
And now it was I--and then it was you
Slept a moment, to wake--"My dear,
I'm not at all sleepy," one of us said....
Was it a thousand years ago?
I woke in your arms--you were sound asleep--
And heard the pattering sound of sheep.
Softly I slipped to the floor and crept
To the curtained window, then, while you slept,
I watched the sheep pass by in the snow.
O flock of thoughts with their shepherd Fear
Shivering, desolate, out in the cold,
That entered into my heart to fold!
A thousand years... was it yesterday
When we two children of far away,
Clinging close in the darkness, lay
Sleeping together?... How tired you were....
On walls and ceiling and great white bed!
We spoke in whispers as children do,
And now it was I--and then it was you
Slept a moment, to wake--"My dear,
I'm not at all sleepy," one of us said....
Was it a thousand years ago?
I woke in your arms--you were sound asleep--
And heard the pattering sound of sheep.
Softly I slipped to the floor and crept
To the curtained window, then, while you slept,
I watched the sheep pass by in the snow.
O flock of thoughts with their shepherd Fear
Shivering, desolate, out in the cold,
That entered into my heart to fold!
A thousand years... was it yesterday
When we two children of far away,
Clinging close in the darkness, lay
Sleeping together?... How tired you were....
Katherine Mansfield
Quando dormivamo insieme… com’eri stanco!
Com’era calda la nostra stanza… e la fiamma diffusa
sulle pareti, sul soffitto e il grande letto bianco.
Parlavamo sommessi come fossimo bambini,
ed ora io – oppure tu
per un attimo presi dal sonno –
ci svegliavamo e a turno dicevamo
«non ho dormito affatto».
Era circa mille anni fa?Mi svegliai fra le tue braccia – eri
profondamente addormentato –
e sentii lo zoccolio affrettato delle pecore.
Strisciai sul pavimento con delicatezza
sfiorando le tendine alla finestra –
mentre tu dormivi –
sulla neve vidi sfilare le pecore.
Oh, folla di pensieri col pastore Terrore
tremante, desolata, fuori nel gelo,
che entrasti nel mio cuore come in un ovile!
Mille anni… era ieri
che noi – due bambini di lontano,
avvinti nell’oscurità, dormivamo insieme?
Come eri stanco, tu!
