‘Mais il fut flottant, mon berceau’ – Corbière
Sleep, sleep, my floating boy!
A plunge of Northern gannets rides
the air above your head; collides
with silver fish that shoal below.
Let these ravens’ krok-krok
sooth and lull you as you rock –
sleep, sleep, my floating boy!
Sleep, sleep, my floating boy!
The herring-hunting humpbacks sound
and ring their bubble nets around
your cradle as it pitches in
the waves. Their underwater howls
will take the place of Breton owls –
sleep, sleep, my floating boy!
Sleep, sleep, my floating boy!
As sailors pass, you’ll hear them call
to keep the timing as they haul
the anchor up from choppy seas.
Accompanied by wave and spray,
they sing out ‘haul-two, haul-belay’ –
sleep, sleep, my floating boy!
