Wednesday, 29 December 2021

Marie Dauguet: 'Mon pauvre chien' (last poem of last collection, 'Passions')



                     A l’autre Ami.

 

Mon pauvre chien, mon compagnon.

Qui vieillis cet hiver tout de bon,

Tu as toujours tes yeux magnifiques,

Mais comme il sont mélancoliques,

Ceux d’un pâtre dans la montagne

Perdu. – Est-ce que CELA se gagne?

 

Tâche de rester debout,

De marcher auprès de nous

Encor un peu

De dormir contre mes genoux

Auprès du feu

Encor un peu.

 

Enghien, 8 décembre 1937.

 

 

                     To the other Friend

 

My poor old dog, companion mine,

Whom winter really aged this time,

Magnificent your eyes remain

But melancholy all the same,

Those of a shepherd mountain-lost. –

And to what END, and at what cost?

 

Try and see if you can stand,

Walk beside us as before

A short while more

Doze by my knees with close at hand

The fire’s soft roar

A short while more.

 

Enghien, 8 December 1937

1 comment:

John Irons said...

there is precious little information on the internet about marie dauguet's life. if anyone has background information as to what drained the colour and zest out of her poetry, i would be most grateful for a mail: irons@post7.tele.dk