Un Sphinx.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker
Un Sphinx.(Translation) .
Serre-embouche vous futes assis pendant cinq mille ans et ne poussates jamais un chuchotement.
Des processions passerent aupres, des marcheurs, en posant des questions auxquelles vous reondates aux yeux gris qui ne clignotaient jamais, des levres fermes qui ne parlaient jamais.
Aucun croassement de quelquechose que vous sachiez ne soit venu de votre accroupissement de chat.
Je suis de ceux qui savent tout ce que vous savez et je garde mes questions: je sais les reponses que vous tenez.
- 'A Sphinx'.Carl Sandburg(1878-1967) .
The poet from Chicago addresses the Great Sphinx in Egypt, by the pyramids in Giza: he is not overawed by the imposing monument. The Sphinx could not, obviously, let out a whisper in the 5000 years
it has been there. Processions came by, asking questions, which the Sphinx never answered. The Sphinx has seen so many events in history, but cannot speak of them. The poet concludes that that he knows all that the sphinx knows, and he will keep his questions to himself, as he already knows the answers.
The free verse poem affirms human greatness in knowing more and more facts, all the answers which the Sphinx knows. I like Sandburg's long lines, which resemble the writing of a journalist. He has a very individual style.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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8/29/2026 2:40:00 AM # rel_20260827T145718Z_a0f1bd3
