NON AUTREMENT ... | NOT OTHERWISE ... |
Joachim du Bellay | tr. Peter Dean |
Non autrement que la Pretresse folle, En grommelant d’une effroyable horreur, Secoue en vain l’indomptable fureur Du Cynthien, qui brusquement l’affole: Mon estomach, gros de ce Dieu qui vole, Épouvanté d’une aveugle terreur Se fait rebelle a la divine erreur, Qui brouille ainsi mon sens, et ma parole. Mais c’est en vain: car le Dieu, qui m’étreint, De plus en plus m’aiguillonne, et contraint De le chanter, quoique mon coeur en gronde. Chantez-le donc, chantez mieux que devant, O vous mes vers! qui volez par le monde, Comme feuillards éparpillés du vent. |
Not otherwise than this most mad Priestess, Grumbling about a horror unforetold, Vainly attempts to disengage the hold Of the brutal Cynthian who brings her such distress. My courage, puffed up with the flying deity, Thrown into panic by a blind terror, Rebellious grows against the divine error Which thus turns sense and speech to insanity. But, all in vain: for this same God engaging me Goads me still further on, obliging me To sing his praises, though my heart denied. Sing them, however, better now, without fail, O you my poems, fly through the world, world-wide, Like leaves that have been scattered by the gale. |
Trans. Copyright © Peter Dean 2002