The Bean
La fève
Maurice Donnay (1859-1945)
La fève
Tu nous dindonneras encor plus d'une fois,
Chère âme, et près des tiens nos moyens sont infimes.
Je me souviens toujours d'un dîner que nous fîmes,
Un beau soir, dans Auteuil, à la porte du Bois
Et tu faisais de l'œil à ton voisin de face,
Et tu faisais du pied à tes deux amoureux
A gauche, à droite, et ton amant était heureux,
Car tu lui souriais tout de même avec grâce.
Ah ! tu n'es pas la femme aux sentiments étroits
Qu'une fidélité trop exclusive gêne.
Entre tous, Pierre, Jean, Jacques, Alphonse, Eugène,
Tu partages ton cœur comme un gâteau des Rois.
Et, si grand est ton art, aimable fille d’Ève,
Que chacun se croit seul à posséder la fève.
The Bean
You’ll stitch us up again, and more than once,
Dear soul: compared to you, we haven’t got the means.
I can’t forget that dinner one fine night: we were
Out in Auteuil, just where you get into the Bois.
To the sitting-opposite guy, you gave the eye,
Played footy-foot with the two who fancied you,
To left and right; your lover was in clover,
As you anyway gave him a smile with lovely style.
You’re not a woman prone to narrow sentiments,
Whom high fidelity might inconvenience.
Between all these, John, Peter, James, Eugene, Alphonse,
You share your heart out like a Twelfth Night frangipane.
And so great is your art, delightful feminine,
That each one thinks himself sole owner of the bean.
Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès
More poems by Maurice Donnay...
Solitudo
Solitude
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)
Solitude
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
Solitudo
si rides, rident omnes: flens unicus ibis.
gaudia Terra cupit: tristia plena tenet.
quod canis, en colles reboant, sed in aere marcet
quod gemis; ars resonat, mutus inersque dolor.
gratus ovas cunctis, refugit te turba dolentem:
ad gaudenda ruunt: commiseranda negant.
stant hilari plures, tristi perduntur amici;
Massica das cunctis, fel modo solus habes.
turba dapes celebrat, vitant jejunia cuncti;
da felix, vives; fratris egenus obis.
aede voluptatis stat turba superba; doloris
omnibus angustas sors dabit ire vias.
Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès
More poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox...
Tobacco
Toute l'âme résumée
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-98)
Toute l'âme résumée
Toute l’âme résumée
Quand lente nous l’expirons
Dans plusieurs ronds de fumée
Abolis en autres ronds
Atteste quelque cigare
Brûlant savamment pour peu
Que la cendre se sépare
De son clair baiser de feu
Ainsi le chœur des romances
À la lèvre vole-t-il
Exclus-en si tu commences
Le réel parce que vil
Le sens trop précis rature
Ta vague littérature.
Tobacco
The spirit all subsumed
by my slow breath consumed
between each smoky ring
on t’other perishing
attests the sage cigar
that burns on just the same
though ash goes falling far
from its bright kiss of flame
So the songs and romances
flutter up to your lip
choose the dearest instances
the vile is real let it slip
Precision’s the erasure
of your vague literature
TABACO translation by Alfonso Reyes
Toda el alma resumida
cuando lenta la consumo
entre cada rueda de humo
en otra rueda abolida
El cigarro dice luego
por poco que arda a conciencia
La ceniza es decadencia
del claro beso de fuego
Tal el coro de leyendas
hasta tu labio aletea
Si has de empezar suelta en prendas
Lo vil por real que sea
Lo muy preciso tritura
tu vaga literatura
Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès
More poems by Stéphane Mallarmé...
A Toast
Brindis
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-98)
Brindis
Tin tin tin
‘Voici la date, tends un coin
De ta fraîche bouche étonnée
Où la nature prend le soin
De te rajeunir d'une année.’
A Toast
Ding-ding-ding
This is your day: your friends are here
to strip you of years, like laying bare
a fig-tree of figs, a chestnut of spines
With smiling lips, approve these lines!
‘Nature,’ said Mallarmé, ‘takes care
to make you younger, year by year’.
BRINDIS Translation by Alfonso Reyes, in my book of him
Tin-tin-tin
Llegó la fecha y tus amigos
te ven despojarte de años
como de erizos los castaños
y como la higuera de higos
Tiende tu boca a nuestro afán
tu boca – dice Mallarmé –
“Où la nature prend le soin
de te rajeunir d’une année.”
Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès
More poems by Stéphane Mallarmé...
Let's watch, as on the silver lake
Allons voir sur le lac d'argent
Armand Silvestre (1837-1901)
Allons voir sur le lac d'argent
ENSEMBLE
Allons voir sur le lac d’argent
Descendre la lune endormie.
LUI
Le miroir des eaux est changeant
Moins que votre âme, mon amie.
ELLE
Rayon de lune est moins furtif
Que peine d’amant n’est légère.
LUI
Ainsi mon chant doux et plaintif
Ne te saurait toucher, bergère ?
ELLE
Amour d’homme est trop exigeant.
LUI
Pitié de femme est toujours brève.
ENSEMBLE
Allons voir sur le lac d’argent
Descendre la lune en son rêve.
Let's watch, as on the silver lake
BOTH
Let’s watch, as on the silver lake
The sleeping moon descends.
HE
The mirror of the waters changes
Less than your heart, my love.
SHE
The moonbeam is less furtive
Than lover’s pain is light.
HE
Could my song, soft and plaintive,
Not touch you, shepherdess?
SHE
Man’s love is too demanding.
HE
Brief always, woman’s pity.
BOTH
Let’s watch, as on the silver lake
The dreaming moon descends.
Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès
More poems by Armand Silvestre...
