偷眠者

是谁偷走了宝贝的睡眠？我一定要知道。

妈妈把水罐挟在腰间，到近村汲水去了。

正午，孩子们结束了游戏，鸭子在水塘中沉寂下来。

牧童在榕树荫下睡去，白鹤在芒果林旁的沼泽里庄严伫立。

此时，偷眠者跑来捉住孩子眼中的睡眠逃之夭夭。

当妈妈回来，发现宝贝正在房间里爬行。

是谁偷走了宝贝的睡眠？我一定要找到她，将她锁闭。

我要到黑暗的洞穴里去寻找，在那里，清泉细细地流过卵石与山石。

我要到醉花林荫中去寻找，在那里，鸽子在巢穴里咕咕啼叫，仙女的脚镯在满天繁星的静夜里叮当作响。

夜晚，我要悄悄溜进静谧的竹林，在那里，萤火虫挥霍着它们的光亮，我要问询每一个我所遇见的生灵，“谁能告诉我，偷眠者住在哪里？”

是谁偷走了宝贝的睡眠？我一定要知道。

一旦抓住她，我要好好给她一个教训！

我要闯入她的巢穴，看她把偷走的睡眠藏在哪里。

我要把它们夺走带回家去。

我要紧紧地缚住她的双翼，将她流放到河边，让她用一根芦苇在水草间以钓鱼为戏。

当夜幕降临，集市散去，孩子们坐回到妈妈的膝上时，夜莺会在她的耳边讥笑：

“现在你要偷谁的睡眠呢？”

Sleep-Stealer

Who stole sleep from baby’s eyes? I must know.

Clasping her pitcher to her waist mother went to fetch water from the village near by.

It was noon. The children’s playtime was over; the ducks in the pond were silent.

The shepherd boy lay asleep under the shadow of banyan tree.

The crane stood grave and still in the swamp near the mango grove.

In the meanwhile the Sleep-stealer came and, snatching sleep from baby’s eyes, flew away.

When mother came back she found babu traveling the room over on all fours.

Who stole sleep from our baby’s eyes? I must know. I must find her and chain her up.

I must look into that dark cave, where, through boulders and scowling stones, trickles a tiny stream.

I must search in the drowsy shad of the bakula grove, where pigeons coo in their corner, and fairies’ anklets tinkle in the stillness of starry nights.

In the evening I will peep into the whispering silence of the bamboo forest, where fireflies squander their light, and will ask every creature I meet, “Can anybody tell me where the Sleep-stealer lives?”

Who stole sleep from baby’s eyes? I must know.

Shouldn’t I give her a good lesson if I could only catch her!

I would raid her nest and see where she hoards all her stolen sleep.

I would plunder it all, and carry it home.

I would bind her two wings securely, set her on the bank of the river, and then let her play at fishing with a reed among the rusher and waterlilies.

When the marketing is over in the evening, and the villager children sit in their mothers’ laps, then the night birds will mockingly din her ears with:

“Whose sleep will you steal now?”