TRANSLATIONS
General Prologue: Canterbury Tales
When April with his showers sweet with fruit The drought of March has pierced unto the root And bathed each vein with liquor that has power To generate therein and sire the flower; When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, Quickened again, in every holt and heath, The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun Into the Ram one half his course has run, And many little birds make melody That sleep through all the night with open eye (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)- Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage, And palmers to go seeking out strange strands, To distant shrines well known in sundry lands. And specially from every shire's end Of England they to Canterbury wend, The holy blessed martyr there to seek Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak. |
AN SILVIA (Who Is Silvia)
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring
STÄNDCHEN (Serenade)
Softly my songs plead
through the night to you;
down into the silent grove,
beloved, come to me!
Slender treetops whisper and rustle
in the moonlight;
my darling, do not fear
that the hostile betrayer will overhear us.
Do you not hear the nightingales call?
Ah, they are imploring you;
with their sweet, plaintive songs
they are imploring for me.
They understand the heart’s yearning,
they know the pain of love;
with their silvery notes
they touch every tender heart.
Let your heart, too, be moved,
beloved, hear me!
Trembling, I await you!
Come, make me happy!
Hotel
My room is shaped like a cage
The sun slips its arm through the window
But I who want to smoke to make mirages
I light my cigarette on daylight's fire
I do not want to work I want to smoke
CHANSON TRISTE (Song of sadness)
Moonlight slumbers in your heart,
A gentle summer moonlight,
And to escape the cares of life
I shall drown myself in your light.
I shall forget past sorrows,
My sweet, when you cradle
My sad heart and my thoughts
In the loving calm of your arms.
You will rest my poor head,
Ah! sometimes on your lap,
And recite to it a ballad
That will seem to speak of us;
And from your eyes full of sorrow,
From your eyes I shall then drink
So many kisses and so much love
That perhaps I shall be healed.
BEAU SOIR (Beautiful Evening)
When at sunset the rivers are pink
And a warm breeze ripples the fields of wheat,
All things seem to advise content -
And rise toward the troubled heart;
Advise us to savour the gift of life,
While we are young and the evening fair,
For our life slips by, as that river does:
It to the sea - we to the tomb.
NUIT D’ETOILES (Night of stars)
Night of stars,
Beneath your veils,
beneath your breeze and fragrance,
Sad lyre
That sighs,
I dream of bygone loves.
Serene melancholy
Now blooms deep in my heart,
And I hear the soul of my love
Quiver in the dreaming woods.
Night of stars...
Once more at our fountain I see
Your eyes as blue as the sky;
This rose is your breath
And these stars are your eyes.
Night of stars...
ESTRELLITA
Little star of the distant sky,
you see my pain,
you know my anguish.
Come down and tell me
if he loves me a little,
because I cannot live without his love.
You are my star, my beacon of love!
You know that soon I shall die.
Come down and tell me
if he loves me a little,
because I cannot live without his love.
EL DIÀ QUE ME QUIERAS
(The day you would love me)
The soft murmur of your sigh
caresses my dreams.
How my life smiles
when your black eyes want to look at me!
And if it’s my asylum
of your mild smile, than it’s like a song,
that calms my wounds.
And all, all is forgotten...
The day you would love me,
the rose that adorns
would display its
best colors of joy.
And the bells would tell the wind
that you were already mine.
And the insane fountains
would talk about that love.
The night you would love me
from the azure of the sky
the jealous stars
would look at us passing by
and a mysterious ray
would nest in your hair,
like a curious glow-worm that would see
that that you were my joy!
And a mysterious ray
would nest in your hair,
like a curious glow-worm that would see
that that you were my joy
