Comment 1 of 1, added on May 2nd, 2005 at 11:30 PM.
This translation above follows the French very roughly. Here is a more exact translation which may sacrifice some of the poetic flair above, but it will give the reader the sense of the literal translation which is far more juicy in French!
Above lakes, above valleys
Mountains, Woods, Clouds and Seas,
Beyond the sun, beyond the ethers
Beyond the confines of starry spheres
My spirit, you move yourself with agility
and, like a good swimmer who raptures in the wave,
You gaily cut across the profound immensity,
With an indescribable and male voluptuousness
You, fly far and well away from these morbid miasmas
Going to purify yourself in the superior air,
and drink like a pure and divine liqueur
The clear fire that fills the clear spaces
Behind the boredoms and vast despondents
who load their weights of misty existence
Happy, that's him of a vigorous wing who can
soar towards luminous and serene fields;
That's him of the thinkers, like skylarks,
takes a flight towards the skies in morning,
- who glides on in life, and understands without effort
the language of flowers and speechless things!
Hope that helps!
Daniel Larkin
French Literature Student
Fordham University, New York
Daniel (Danny) Larkin from
United States
Copyright © 2003-2008 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
This translation above follows the French very roughly. Here is a more exact translation which may sacrifice some of the poetic flair above, but it will give the reader the sense of the literal translation which is far more juicy in French!
Above lakes, above valleys
Mountains, Woods, Clouds and Seas,
Beyond the sun, beyond the ethers
Beyond the confines of starry spheres
My spirit, you move yourself with agility
and, like a good swimmer who raptures in the wave,
You gaily cut across the profound immensity,
With an indescribable and male voluptuousness
You, fly far and well away from these morbid miasmas
Going to purify yourself in the superior air,
and drink like a pure and divine liqueur
The clear fire that fills the clear spaces
Behind the boredoms and vast despondents
who load their weights of misty existence
Happy, that's him of a vigorous wing who can
soar towards luminous and serene fields;
That's him of the thinkers, like skylarks,
takes a flight towards the skies in morning,
- who glides on in life, and understands without effort
the language of flowers and speechless things!
Hope that helps!
Daniel Larkin
French Literature Student
Fordham University, New York
Daniel (Danny) Larkin from United States