The Valley of Unrest

Oorspronkelijke titel: The Valley Nis
Eerste publicatie: 1831 (Poems by Edgar Allan Poe)

Vertalingen en bewerkingen:
2010: De vallei van rusteloosheid (De raaf, Lou Reed, rockopera)
1993: De vallei der onrust (Verzamelde gedichten, Hendrik de Vries)
1985: Het Dal der Onrust (Edgar Allan Poe – gedichten, Wijnand Steemers)
1982: De vallei der onrust (Aan een droom vol weelde ontstegen. Poëzie uit de Romantiek 1750-1850, Gerrit Komrij)
1978: The Valley of Unrest (BulkBoek nr.8, Engelse reeks, 4e jaargang)
1944: The Valley of Unrest (The City in the Sea and other Poems, The Busy Bee / De Bezige Bij)
1939: De Vallei der Onrust (Romantische rhapsodie, Hendrik de Vries)
1933: De Vallei der Onrust (Forum – maandschrift voor letteren en kunst, 2e jaargang, nr. 1, Nijgh & Van Ditmar)

THE VALLEY OF UNREST

Once it smiled a silent dell

Where the people did not dwell;

They had gone unto the wars,

Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,

Nightly, from their azure towers,

To keep watch above the flowers,

In the midst of which all day

The red sun-light lazily lay.

Now each visiter shall confess

The sad valley’s restlessness.

Nothing there is motionless —

Nothing save the airs that brood

Over the magic solitude.

Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees

That palpitate like the chill seas

Around the misty Hebrides!

Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven

That rustle through the unquiet Heaven

Uneasily, from morn till even,

Over the violets there that lie

In myriad types of the human eye —

Over the lilies there that wave

And weep above a nameless grave!

They wave: — from out their fragrant tops

Eternal dews come down in drops.

They weep: — from off their delicate stems

Perennial tears descend in gems.