Tag Archives: apple tree

Translation: Émile Verhaeren, ‘Storm’ translated by John Gallas 

Leave a reply

So there you are, clambering amongst 
the topmost golden apples when – ker-boom!
A storm! an avalanche! comes hurtling through, 
ripping round the orchard-side. And you? 

Down that ladder smartish. Catch your breath.
Shelter in the shed, whose wobbly walls 
squeal with lightning-snaps , whose old roof pings 
and rattles in the hail. And then? Then things

go back to normal. Rosy sky. The grass, 
perky with flowers, says No Damage Done.
So up you go again, and pick the fruit, 
that beckon, brighterwetter, in the sun. 

by Émile Verhaeren, translated by John Gallas

*****

L’orage

Emile Verhaeren

Parmi les pommes d’or que frôle un vent léger
Tu m’apparais là-haut, glissant de branche en branche,
Lorsque soudain l’orage accourt en avalanche
Et lacère le front ramu du vieux verger.

Tu fuis craintive et preste et descends de l’échelle
Et t’abrites sous l’appentis dont le mur clair
Devient livide et blanc aux lueurs de l’éclair
Et dont sonne le toit sous la pluie et la grêle.

Mais voici tout le ciel redevenu vermeil.
Alors, dans l’herbe en fleur qui de nouveau t’accueille,
Tu t’avances et tends, pour qu’il rie au soleil,
Le fruit mouillé que tu cueillis, parmi les feuilles.

*****

John Gallas writes: “Loved doing these – 3 months, off and on, 50 mornings, to do 50 Verhaeren poems – the ones from ‘The Flems’ (‘Les Flamands’) are wonderful, objective descriptions of loft, orchard, pond, farmyard, cow, cowherd, espaliers, milk, breadbaking etc. Did ’em all. So the whole 50 set is with Carcanet – just sent last week – awaiting a decision: the little feature for ‘Storm’ might be a good sign!”

John Gallas, Aotearoa/NZ poet, published mostly by Carcanet. Saxonship Poet (see www.saxonship.org), Fellow of the English Association, St Magnus Festival Orkney Poet, librettist, translator and biker. 2025 Midlands Writing Prize winner. Presently living in Markfield, Leicestershire. Website is www.johngallaspoetry.co.uk which has a featured Poem of the Month, complete book list, links and news.  

Photo: “DSC08278” by Capt Kodak is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Rachel Hadas, ‘Summer Nights and Days’

Leave a reply

So far the nights feel lonelier than the days.
In light, the living keep me company,
and memories of voices through the years.

Each summer threads a green familiar maze.
Emerging sun-struck, you can barely spy
the slow kaleidoscope of clouds and hours.

Those flannel nightshirts chilly sleepers wear
as summer wanes: I’m giving them away.
Pass it on: you keep at the same time.

A bough has broken from the Duchess tree.
Rain swelled the apples. Too much lightness weighs
heavy: the heft of the idea of home
tempered with the detachment of a dream,
or tidal pulls, like ocean, like moonrise.

*****

Rachel Hadas writes: “Summer Nights and Days, from perhaps 2009-2011, is one of a number of pieces written in and about Vermont which I recently tightened into short prose texts and collected in my latest book, Pastorals (2025); as it appears here, it’s still in its poem format. This piece may or may not have been written after my late husband’s death in 2011, but is certainly refers to a time when I was essentially living alone. My son and his visiting friends were the recipients of old nightshirts (more recycling).”

Rachel Hadas’s recent books include Love and Dread, Pandemic Almanac, and Ghost Guest. Her translations include Euripides’s Iphigenia plays and a portion of Nonnus’s Tales of Dionysus. Professor Emerita at Rutgers-Newark, where she taught for many years, she now teaches at 92Y in New York City and serves as poetry editor of Classical Outlook. Her honors include a Guggenheim fellowship and an award from the American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters.

Photo: “Apple Tree” by bgreenlee is licensed under CC BY 2.0.