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Verlaine, Paul: The Moon, White… (La lune blanche... in English)

Portre of Verlaine, Paul

La lune blanche... (French)


La lune blanche
Luit dans les bois ;
De chaque branche
Part une voix
Sous la ramée...

Ô bien-aimée.

L’étang reflète,
Profond miroir,
La silhouette
Du saule noir
Où le vent pleure...

Rêvons, c’est l’heure.

Un vaste et tendre
Apaisement
Semble descendre
Du firmament
Que l’astre irise...

C’est l’heure exquise.



The Moon, White… (English)

The moon, white,

Shines in the trees:

From each bright

Branch a voice flees

Beneath leaves that move,

 

O well-beloved.

 

The pools reflect

A mirror’s depth,

The silhouette

Of willows’ wet

Black where the wind weeps…

 

Let us dream, time sleeps.

 

It seems a vast, soothing,

Tender balm

Is falling

From heaven’s calm

Empurpled by a star…

 

It’s the exquisite hour.



Source of the quotationhttp://www.poetryintranslation.com

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