Skip to main content

Th�ophile de Viau: Nocturnal Emotions (From French)

Nocturnal Emotions
By Th�ophile de Viau (1590 � 1626)
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click to hear me recite the original in early 17th century French

I dreamt my Phyllis from the dead rose free,
Her dark shade fair as she was in the sun
Wanted one last seduction, wanted me
To couple with a cloud like Ixion.

Her specter glided naked and in heat
Into my bed: "My love! I'm back tonight,
Grown only lovelier in that sad retreat
Where Fate has held me since you left my sight, 

To kiss again the finest lover's face,
To die again in your hot arms' embrace." 
When that phantasmic idol had spent me whole

She said "Farewell. Back to the dead I go. 
You bragged of having fucked my body. So 
Can you now brag of having fucked my soul."

Notes:

L4: The mortal Ixion grew amorous of Hera. Zeus caught Ixion red handed by appearing to him as a cloud that seemed to be Hera but wasn't. When Ixion embraced the cloud, Zeus was sure of his betrayal, and punished him accordingly. 

The Original:

Je songeois que Phyllis des enfers revenue,
Belle comme elle estoit � la clart� du jour,
Vouloit que son phantosme encore fit l�amour
Et que comme Ixion, j�embrassasse une nue.

Son ombre dans mon lict se glissa toute nue
Et me dit, cher Thyrsis, me voicy de retour,
Je n�ay fait qu�embellir en ce triste s�jour
Ou depuis ton d�part le sort m�a retenue

Je viens pour rebaisser le plus beau des Amants,
Je viens pour remourir dans tes embrassements.
Alors quand cette idole eut abus� ma flamme,

Elle me dit: Adieu, je m�en vays chez les morts,
Comme tu tes vant� d�avoir foutu mon corps,
Tu te pourras vanter d�avoir foutu mon �me.

Notes sur le texte fran�ais:

V3: Faire l'amour d�signe aujourd'hui l'acte sexuel. Mais au 17i�me siecle faire l'amour a la signification de "faire la cour", si bien que Racine peut faire dire � un de ses personnages "et vous ferez l'amour en pr�sence du p�re."

V11: Idole. Le sens moderne, qui provient du latin chr�tien, fait partie de l'�tendue s�mantique du mot, mais il me semble probable que Th�ophile pense �galement au sens du Grec e?d???? "phantasme, vision illusoire."
Abuser avait aussi le sens de "tromper." 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maula-Maula laakh pukaare - Kalaam by Hazrat Zaheen Shah Taji (R.A.)

????-???? ??? ??????,???? ??? ? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???,???? ??? ? ?? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?? ???? ????,?? ?????? ?? ????-???? ????-????,?????? ?? ?? ??? ????-???? ????-????,?? ?? ??? ? ?? ?? ??????? ?? ?? ?? ??,?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????? ???? ???? ?? ??????? ???? ???? ??? ? ???? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????? ~ Hazrat Zhaeen Shah Taji (R.A.) Maula-Maula laakh pukaare,Maula haath na aaye Lafzon se hum khel rahe hain,maa'na haath na aaye Jo pani ke naam ko pani jaane,naadaani hai Pani-pani rat'te rat'te,pyaasa hi mr jaaye Shola-shola rat'te-rat'te,lab pe aanch na aaye Ik chingaari lab par rakh lo,lab fauran jal jaaye Ism pe Qaane hone waala aur musamma khone waala Kaam na karne waala moorakh bas naam se ji bahlaye English Translation: Calling out Maula Maula! Maula still escapes us. We only play with words,meaning still escapes us. Who understands the word Water as Water,is a fool, He will keep chanting Water Water and will die of thirst. By ch...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rumi's "Popular Versions" in Their Original Farsi Scripts

I've been receiving numerous emails requesting the original Farsi or Persian verses of Rumi's very famous and often quoted English "Versions" which are "translated" by the popular Rumi "version makers", particularly the incomparable Coleman Barks who has single-handedly made Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi Rumi a household name here in our beloved America. In some instances, it's virtually impossible to find Rumi's original Farsi verses, mainly due to non-Persian speaking 'version makers' not providing a reference to the original Rumi verses in their famous  new-agey  translation works. Coleman Barks, the foremost Rumi translator and "version maker", not only openly admits, but also calls his Rumi translations as "versions," or "re-renderings" because he doesn't read Farsi:  �Of course, as I work on these poems, I don�t have the Persian to consult. I literally have nothing to be faithful to, except wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lucan: Opening to his Epic on the Civil War (From Latin)

I have recently finished reading (for the first time in its entirety) Lucan's unfinished epic Bellum Civile " The Civil War." I found it extraordinary. When I had finished, I wanted to translate the entire thing. Though I quickly realized that I hadn't the time or the resources to do so without the task taking several years. So I have selected a few excerpts from the Bellum Civile  that I think read well on their own, and have added these to my translation queue. Starting with this part here from the poem's opening. You can see a list of the planned excerpts on my table of contents (list of translated poems.) Opening to his Epic on the Civil War (1.1-82)  By Lucan Translated by A.Z. Foreman I sing of war far worse than civil war waged in the nasty fields of Thessaly, of crime gone legal, of a powerful state that disemboweled itself with victory's sword, of family front lines 1 ; how when the pact of tyranny imploded, all the forces of a concussed w...
Post a Comment
Read more