Heros Et Leander.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker
Heros Et Leander.(Translation) .
Il n'est pas dans notre pouvoir d'aimer ou de hair,
Car la volonte en nous est annule par le sort.
Quand deux sont prets, longtemps avant le commencement de la course
Nous voulons que si l'un perdit, l'autre gagnat;
Et l'un surtout nous aimons
De deux lingots d'or, pareils en chaque detail.
La raison aucun homme ne le sait; qu'il suffit,
Ce que nous voyons set cense par les yeux.
La ou ils deliberent tous les deux, l'amour est leger;
Quiconque aima, qui n'aima a premiere vue?
- 'Hero and Leander'.Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) .
The most striking thing is that Marlowe thought first of the popular saying 'love at first sight'. I did not know that before. His argument is that true love is love at first sight: if the two think it over and deliberate, it is only slight love.
Further, Marlowe thinks that we cannot choose to love or hate, because our will is over-ruled by fate. Why we like one gold ingot in preference to a second one, no one knows. It is a matter of taste.
The ten lines of the poem are written in rhyming couplets, very tidy.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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8/29/2026 7:29:05 AM # rel_20260827T145718Z_a0f1bd3
