SOLEILS COUCHANTS | SUNS THAT SET |
Paul Verlaine | trans. John R.G. Turner |
Une aube affaiblie Verse par les champs La mélancolie Des soleils couchants. La mélancolie Berce de doux chants Mon coeur qui s’oublie Aux soleils couchants. Et d’étranges rêves, Comme des soleils Couchants sur les grèves, Fantômes vermeils, Défilent sans trêves, Défilent, pareils A des grands soleils Couchants sur les grèves. | A spreading black dawn: A vast silhouette Encumbers the lawn Toward the sunset. In slumbers the dawn Consoles my regret By overtones drawn From where the sun set. By nightmares and more Unceasingly run Repeats of a sun That sinks to the shore. Come one after one Red phantoms galore, Red shapes of a sun That sank to the shore. |
This translation was one of a group that was awarded the John Dryden Prize for Literary Translation in 2009.
Trans. copyright © John R.G. Turner 2009