Wednesday, September 17, 2008

À une Dame créole

This poem is short, but the next one is not so I am posting this by itself.

Someday I will learn that when one has to get up at 7:15 it is generally not a good idea to stay up till 3 the night before, no matter how good it feels at the time.

La-di-da. The LSATs are killing my brain and raping my creativity. I wish I knew what could be done about this.

To a Creole Woman
In the perfumed country that the sun caresses,
I have known under a canopy of trees all made crimson
And palms from which idleness rains down on the eyes,
A Creole lady with unknown charms.

Her skin is pale and warm, the brown enchantress
Has in the neck noble-mannered ways;
Great and slender walking like a huntress,
Her smile is tranquil and her eyes assured.

If you went, Madam, to the true land of glory,
On the banks of the Seine or the green Loire,
Beauty worthy of gracing the ancient manors,

You would make, in the shelter of shadowed sanctums
A thousand sonnets sprout in the hearts of poets,
Whom your great eyes would render more submissive than your slaves.

À une Dame créole
Au pays parfumé que le soleil caresse,
J'ai connu, sous un dais d'arbres tout empourprés
Et de palmiers d'où pleut sur les yeux la paresse,
Une dame créole aux charmes ignorés.

Son teint est pâle et chaud; la brune enchanteresse
A dans le cou des airs noblement maniérés;
Grande et svelte en marchant comme une chasseresse,
Son sourire est tranquille et ses yeux assurés.

Si vous alliez, Madame, au vrai pays de gloire,
Sur les bords de la Seine ou de la verte Loire,
Belle digne d'orner les antiques manoirs,

Vous feriez, à l'abri des ombreuses retraites
Germer mille sonnets dans le coeur des poètes,
Que vos grands yeux rendraient plus soumis que vos noirs.

-----
Also, bought this book. It is fucking magnificent.

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