Puis, berce par la houle, et Rocked by the tides, wrapt in
berce par ses reves, his glorious moods,
L'oreille ouverte aux bruits Breathing perfumes of lofty
harmonieux des greves, odorous woods,
{182}
Humant l'acre parfum des Ears opened to the shores'
grands bois odorants, harmonious tunes,
Rasant les ilots verts et les Following in their dreams and
dunes d'opale, voices mellow,
De meandre en meandre, au fil To wander and wander in the
l'onde pale, thread of the pale billow,
Suivre le cours des flots Past islands hushed and
errants. . . . opalescent dunes.
A son aspect, du sein des Lo, as he comes, from out the
flottantes ramures, waving boughs,
Montait comme un concert de A rising concert of murmurous
chants et de murmures; song upflows,
Des vols d'oiseaux marins Of winging sea-fowl lifting
s'elevaient des roseaux, from the reeds;
Et, pour montrer la route a la Pointing the route to his swift
pirogue frele. dripping blade,
S'enfuyaient en avant, trainant Then skimming before, tracing
leur ombre grele their slender shade
Dans le pli lumineux des eaux. In luminous foldings of the
watery meads.
Et, pendant qu'il allait voguant And as he journeys, drifting
a la derive, with its flow,
On aurait dit qu'au loin, les The forests lifting their glad
arbres de la rive, roofs aglow,
En arceaux parfumes penches sur In perfumed arches o'er his
son chemin, keel's swift swell,
Saluaient le heros dont Salute the hero, whose undaunted
l'energique audace soul
Venait d'inscrire encor le nom Had graved anew "LA FRANCE"
de notre race on that proud scroll
Aux fastes de l'esprit humain. Of human genius, bright,
imperishable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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