The Ransom
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| The Ransom / La Rançon by |
| Translated by Sir John Squire (1884 - 1958), published 1908. Source: The Flowers of Evil, ed. Marthiel and Jackson Mathews, New Directions edition, 1989. |
The Ransom
To pay his ransom man must toil
With Reason’s implement alone
To plough and rake and free from stone
Two plots of hard volcanic soil.
And if he would from out them wrench
A few thorns or a meagre flower,
Continually a heavy shower
Of his salt sweat their roots must drench.
The one is Art, the other Love;
And on that last and terrible day
The wrath of the stern judge to stay,
To escape the vengeance from above,
He must show barns whose uttermost
Recesses swell with ripened grain,
And blooms whose shapes and hues will gain
The suffrage of the Heavenly Host.
The note on the translation:
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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923. It may be copyrighted outside the U.S. (see Help:Public domain). |  |
