Winter landscape gardening

Translated from the French


Miracle gardens

Crystal. Arrayed opals. Gems translucent and shrill-
Silence by frozen ponds exhaled. Ever ahead
As a harsh and straight line the distance vanishes.
Trees are clad in glorious frost which does not kill
Them but turns to statue whatever it seizes,

A mirrored Gorgon and a benumbed dread.

Flower beds unrolling as I walk, assuming
The appearence of my flawless, soundest slumber.
In almost steely blue my horizons are drawn.
What desire doesn't reach, regrets still remember.
And this frozen sun is like everlasting dawn,

A flight of memories that comes to roost nowhere.


JARDINS MIRACULEUX

Cristal. Opées dressées. Transparences aiguës-
Et ce silence au fond des glaces. Dur et droit,
Mais toujours plus avant, un lointain qui s'efface.
L'arbre vêtu du froid radieux qui ne tue
Mais, pareil aux statues, fige ceux qu'il embrasse,

Gorgone qui mirée engourdit son effroi.

Des parterres qui se déroulent et qui prennent
L'apparence de mes sommeils incorrompus.
D'un bleu presque d'acier mes lointains se colorent
Où le désir n'atteint, les regrets se souviennent.
Ce soleil gelé semble une eternelle aurore.

Un vol de souvenirs qui ne se pose plus.





Poetry by Michel Galiana
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Written on 2010-02-04 at 02:38

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Joan Black
Good job, Michel! Your translation is really brilliant, although there are some inaccuraces, which can of course be forgiven. You have chosen a rather difficult, and, I would say, complicated text to translate.
You know, I am a translator myself, I translate Russian, French, and sometimes other authors into English and I also write my original poetry in English. I wish you good luck in your activity.

Language: 4
Format: 5
Mood: 5
Overall: 5
2010-07-08