Lullaby

The sky has shut its eyes of blue,
the house has shut its many eyes,
the meadow sleeps with quilt up too –
sleep nice now, sleep, little Balázs.

Flies and wasps have gone to sleep,
on every foot a bowed head lies,
there's not a buzz or hum to seek –
sleep nice now, sleep, little Balázs.

The tramcar has dozed off as well
– and without its rattle and clash –
it dreams it dares to clang its bell –
sleep nice now, sleep, little Balázs.

The coat is sleeping on the chair,
its tear takes forty winks, quite wise,
today it won't split further there –
sleep nice now, sleep, little Balázs.

Ball and whistle close their eyes,
wood and woodland outing hush,
and the good sweet gives sleepy sighs –
sleep nice now, sleep, little Balázs.

You'll reach the far-off, you'll go on
like a glass marble in a flash –
be a giant, only with eyelids down –
sleep nice now, sleep, little Balázs.

You'll be a fireman and a soldier!
A shepherd's ear for wild beasts' dash!
Look, mother's nodding, going over –
sleep nice now, sleep, little Balázs.

Attila József, 'Altató' (1935)

Translation from the Hungarian © Edwin Morgan.
From Attila József: Sixty Poems (Mariscat, 2001)

Reprinted by permission of Mariscat Press.