Wednesday 27 January 2021

Marie Dauguet: 'L'aube paisible'



L’aube paisible

 

L’harmonieux silence erre au fouillis des branches

Et dans l’immense paix d’un matin du dimanche,

              Calme extatiquement,

Rien qu’un envol de cloche au fond du firmament.

 

L’aurore a suspendu sa luisante mantille

Sur le potager bleu où, traînant sa coquille,

              S’attarde l’escargot

Zébrant d’argent mouillé les feuilles des pavots.

 

Les lierres enlacés aux murs qui les étayent,

Répandent leur parfum qu’exaspéra la nuit,

              Et les pêchers s’éveillent

Déployant leur fraîcheur où l’abeille bruit.

 

Un chat muettement, plissant ses yeux de jade,

Glisse à travers les haricots et les salades.

               Calme extatiquement,

Le vieux jardin repose au mol égouttement

 

Des cloches dans l’espace. Et parmi sa glycine,

La maison qu’un trait rose au bord du ciel dessine,

               Sur le verger dormant

Ouvre, aux frais angelus, portes et contrevents.

 

 

The peaceful dawn

 

Among the tangled branches sweet-toned silence strays

And in the vast peace of a Sunday morning haze,

              Ecstatically calm,

Nothing but fleeting chimes at heaven’s outer arm.

 

Over blue kitchen gardens has Aurora draped

Her gleaming mantle where, trailing its own shell’s weight,

              The snail rests for a time

From streaking leaves of poppies with its silver slime.

 

The twining ivy, held by walls no wind can shake,

Spills out its pungent scent that irked night constantly,

              And now the peach trees wake,

Spreading their freshness out where bees hum noisily.

 

Quite silently a cat, with narrowed eyes of jade,

Slides through the lettuces and beans in total shade.

              Ecstatically calm,

The age-old garden’s resting in the soothing balm

 

Of bells that drift through space. And midst wisteria,

Pink-traced against the sky, the house exterior

              – While still the orchard snores –

Opens to this Angelus shutters and closed doors.



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