Eglantine, joues roses pâles, mine mutine,
Tu te perches au bord du chemin.
Ancolie, parée de blanc, de bleu ou de carmin,
Tu danses dans le jardin de ma voisine.
Glycine, tu pleures de lourdes larmes violines
Ou de longs sanglots blancs presque humains.
Ephémère, belle virginienne sans lendemain,
Tu éclaires nos matins de lueurs azurines.
Gueule de loup, belle de jour, véronique,
Désespoir du peintre, immortelle, angélique.
Nymphe, héroïne ou même gourgandine
Vêtues de soie, de velours ou de mousseline.
Endormeuses, guérisseuses ou ensorceleuses.
Sans vous, amies fleurs, la vie serait moins heureuse.
Wild rose, light and pale, mischievious look
You play hide and seek besides the tree line
Columbine, dressed in white, blue or carmine
You dance lightly on the banks of the brook
Wysteria, you cry heavy purple tears
Or long white sobs almost human
Spiderwort living only a few hours span
You lighten our mornings till the noon glares
Cupid, love in the mist, forget me not
Love lies bleeding, the ghost of miss Wilmott
Busy Lizzie, perennial honesty, bloody butcher
Aunt Eliza, , blue eyed Mary, rattlesnake master
Romantic, Dickensian, heroic, ordinary
Flowers, life without you would not be so merry
#writing201 #poésie #poème #poetry #poem
The painting is mixed media called Maelie’s poppy
Vibrant poem. So lovely!
It would take three dictionaries and several hours to read the French…and it would take out most of the joy.
This is SO lovely in English, and I would love to be able to enjoy the French. I once took a course called French for Reading Proficiency, a requirement of an additional language (other than Spanish.) I got a B-, and the instructor said that my translations were « beautiful, » but it took too long for me to do the final exam. Meaning…it’s lovely, but a less-precise and longer length translation would have brought a higher grade. We were permitted to use dictionaries… 🙂
I enjoyed reading the sonnet in French. Appreciating rhyme schemes that are not English and don’t translate easily is a meaningful activity. Same with the meter (metre). You also show a wonderful, arful understanding of blossoms and blooms, which I don’t have but can appreciate in someone else’s craft. Thank you–Merci–for creating and sharing this!
@carol campbelle Thanks a lot
@gradma2011 I prefer the last part in English because the common names of flowers are far more evocative, funny or charming than in French.
Thanks a lot
@clcouch Warm thanks