Mes Capitaines Tristes.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker
Mes Capitaines Tristes.(Translation) .
Un a un ils apparaissent a
la nuit: quelques amis, et
un peu aux noms
historiques. Commemt ils commencent tard a briller!
mais avant qu'ils s'evanouissent ils se tiennent
parfaitement incarnes, tout
le passe les entourant comme un
pardessus de chaos. Ils etaient des hommes
qui, je croyais, ne vecurent que pour
renouveler la force gaspillee qu'ils depenserent de chaque convulsion chaude.
Ils me rappellent, distants maintenant.
C'est vrai, ils ne sont pas encore au repos,
mais maintenant qu'ils sont vraiment
eloignes, separes des faillites,
ils se retirent a une orbite
et se tournent d'energie
desinteressee et dure,
comme des etoiles.
-'My Sad Captains'.Thom Gunn.
The poem is about his friends who have died, some of them famous
('historical names') . They seem to appear to him in the darkness, still conditioned by their past. They were men who could renew a strong life-force. Their spirits are not yet fully at rest, but they are apart from human life with its failures, so that the sad captains are now filled with 'disinterested/ hard energy, like the stars'.
A visionary poem of genius, full of compassion and belief inhuman greatness. ' The past lapping them like a / cloak of chaos'- another brilliant image, like those of Ezra Pound.
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 12:47:24 PM # rel_20260827T145718Z_a0f1bd3
