Oh! ma petite princesse de clarté
Venez avec moi sur les routes nocturnes,
Sous le large ciel étoilé!
Nous marcherons par les routes infinies
Et vous aurez, à vos pieds,
Des cothurnes de frêles liserons endormis.
Vous me donnerez vos mains, toutes les deux,
Vous appuyerez votre tête sur mon épaule!
Nous irons comme des bienheureux,
Des bienheureux déjà sortis de la vie,
Pour qui les heures dorment, sous les grands saules,
Dans quelque pauvre enceine bénie.
Je veux que les heures devant nous soient mortes!
Il n'y aura plus de temps, rien que l'amour,
L'amour fervent que je te porte!
Et je t'emmènerai bien à moi seul, toute,
A travers les siècles, les années, les jours...
Par une sûre éternelle route!
Oh! my little princess of brightness
come with me along the nocturnal paths,
beneath the wide starry sky!
We shall walk along the infinite paths
and you shall have, upon your feet
buskins of frail sleeping columbine.
You will give me your hands, both together,
you will lean your head on my shoulder!
We shall go like supremely happy
beings already departed from this life,
for whom the hours sleep, beneath the great willows,
in some poor yet blessed enclosure.
I wish the hours before us were dead!
There will ne no more time, nothing but love,
the fervent love that I bring you!
And I shall carry you off for myself alone,
through the centuries, the years, the days...
Along a secure, never-ending path!
© translated by Christopher Goldsack
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