I tried translating Victor Hugo's "Clair de Lune" into English — this was the result:
The moon was calm and play'd upon the tides
The window, free at last, op'd to the breeze
The sultana gaz'd 'cross the breaking seas
Where waves embroider'd th' islets' silver sides.
Her lively fingers play'd upon the lute
But then she heard queer distant, dull echoes.
Was it a Turkish vessel sail'd from Cos?
'Gainst Greek isles with oars of Tartars brute?
Are these the birds who plunge, hour after hour
Who strike the waves, who roll pearls 'cross their wings?
Is there a djinn who whistles—whilst he flings—
Through rustling reeds—the crenels of the tow'r?
What troubles so the seas near the serail?
Not cormorants, 'pon the waves as they roll,
Not timbers' creak, neither the heavy toll
Of the vessel whose dull oars draw it nigh.
These are the sacks whence flow the tears she hides!
She glimps'd, sounding the sea whence vessels go
Amidst their flanks, one like a man—but no!
The moon was calm and played upon the tides!
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The original metre and rhyme scheme were rather difficult to retain, I must admit, and I think it may have suffered for it. I also probably got some of the vocabulary wrong. The original (French) may be found
here. I tried referencing some other translations to check, but I could not find a good one for comparison.
