La Mort Ne Sois Pas Fiere. (Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker
La Mort Ne Sois Pas Fiere. (Translation) .
La Mort ne sois pas fiere, bien que quelques-uns t'aient appele
Puissante et redoutable, car tu ne l'es pas;
Car ceux que tu crois que tu vainques
Ils ne meurent pas, pauvre mort, ni encore peux-tu me tuer.
Du repos et du sommeil, qui ne sont que tes tableaux,
Beaucoup de plaisir, donc de toi grand-chose de plus doit couler,
Et le plus tot nos meilleurs hommes avec toi aillent,
Le repos de leurs os, et la delivrance de l'ame.
Tu es l'esclave au Sort, a l'Hasard, aux rois, et aux hommes desesperes,
Et tu habites avec le poison, la guerre, et la maladie,
Et le pavot, ou des philtres peuvent nous faire endormir aussi bien,
Et mieux que ton coup; pourquoi te gonfles-tu alors?
Un court sommeil passe, nous nous reveillerons eternellement,
Et la mort ne sera plus; la mort tu mourras.
-' Death be not Proud'. John Donne (1572-1631) .
The classic sonnet has a rhyme scheme: ABBA ABBA CDDC EE.
It is an English or Shakespearean sonnet.
To the poet, death is not powerful or dreadful. A rest or sleep are painless, even desirable images of death: the same loss of consciousness and anxiety. Death depends on fate, chance, wars, or sickness. Heart disease and cancer can cause death. But sleeping potions, like opium from the poppy, put us to sleep better than death's blow. If we die in our sleep, we awaken to eternity. One patient in hospital assured me that death is just a long sleep, no more. The poem ends positively and mystically: one day death will vanish and it will die itself. I like the strong tone: 'death, thou shalt die.'
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/7/2024 1:03:24 AM # 1.0.0.1119
a BIG one to translate, Michael. Understandably foregone rhyme.
I was fully aware of this poem's status when I started translating. The language is surprisingly simple though.