Adlestrop
Edward Thomas (1878-1917)
Adlestrop
Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.My Latin version
non mihi mente tuum cadit indelebile nomen,
~~Selda, ubi inassueta compede currus iter
sisterat. excelso tempestas torrida sole,
~~deficiens mensis Junius, alta dies.
sibilat aere vapor, purgat mala gutture tussis;
~~nullus homo venit limine, nullus abit.
solum, Selda, tuum nomen, tu portus amoene,
~~nil aliud visumst! herba humilisque salix
et grandes salices, ulmaria pendula filis
~~flos redolens, foeni plurima congeries,
arida, sola, nitens, immota ut in aere nubes
~~exiguae; gaudes voce propinqua brevi
tu, merula! et procul hinc, ubi iam nebulosior aer,
~~pinnati numerant carmina grata chori,
argutae volucrum quot habes, Oxonia, turbae,
~~quot regio Glevi Nervia condit aves.Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès