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Original lyrics
Vita Nuova
I stood by the unvintageable sea
Till the wet waves drenched face and hair with spray;
The long red fires of the dying day
Burned in the west; the wind piped drearily;
And to the land the clamorous gulls did flee:
‘Alas!’ I cried, ‘my life is full of pain,
And who can garner fruit or golden grain
From these waste fields which travail ceaselessly!’
My nets gaped wide with many a break and flaw,
Nathless I threw them as my final cast
Into the sea, and waited for the end.
When lo! a sudden glory! and I saw
From the black waters of my tortured past
The argent splendour of white limbs ascend!
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sandringTranslation
Vita Nuova
J'étais face à la mer, vignoble sans vendange,1
Les embruns détrempaient mon front et mes cheveux ;
Le jour mourant tendait des bannières de feu
À l'occident ; le vent sifflait un air étrange.
Vers la terre fuyaient, criards, les goélands ;
Je m'écriai : « Hélas ! ma vie n'est que souffrance !
Qu'attendre, grains dorés ou fruits, quelle abondance,
De ces flancs inféconds en travail incessant ! »2
Mes filets présentaient plus d'une déchirure,
Pourtant je les lançai comme un ultime espoir
Dans la mer, et guettai, longtemps, le dénouement.
Quand soudain : remontant du fond de l'onde obscure
De mon passé meurtri, surgit, en pleine gloire,
Argenté, ruisselant, un corps splendide et blanc !
JadisOscar Wilde: Top 3
| 1. | Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves |
| 2. | The Ballad of Reading Gaol |
| 3. | In the Forest |
Comments
About translator
This is the first edition
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1057/1057-h/1057-h.htm#page53
There is a later edition which goes
I stood by the unvintageable sea
Till the wet waves drenched face and hair with spray,
The long red fires of the dying day
Burned in the west; the wind piped drearily;
And to the land the clamorous gulls did flee:
“Alas!” I cried, “my life is full of pain,
And who can garner fruit or golden grain,
From these waste fields which travail ceaselessly!”
My nets gaped wide with many a break and flaw
Nathless I threw them as my final cast
Into the sea, and waited for the end.
When lo! a sudden glory! and I saw
The argent splendour of white limbs ascend,
And in that joy forgot my tortured past.