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LT → енглески → George Moriarty → The Road Ahead or the Road Behind → француски
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The Road Ahead or the Road Behind

Sometimes I think the Fates must grin
as we denounce them and insist,
the only reason we can’t win
is the Fates themselves have missed.
 
Yet there lives on the ancient claim,
we win or lose within ourselves.
The shining trophies on our shelves
can never win tomorrow’s game.
 
So you and I know deeper down:
there is a chance to win the crown,
but when we fail to give our best,
we simply haven’t met the test
of giving all and saving none
until the game is really won.
 
Of showing what is meant by grit,
of fighting on when others quit;
of playing through not letting up,
it’s bearing down that wins the cup.
 
Of taking it and taking more
until we gain the winning score,
of dreaming there’s a goal ahead,
of hoping when our dreams are dead,
of praying when our hopes have fled,
yet, losing, not afraid to fall,
if bravely we have given all.
 
For who can ask more of a man
that giving all within his span,
it seems to me
is not so far from Victory.
 
And so the fates are seldom wrong,
no matter how they twist and wind,
it’s you and I who make our fates,
we open up or close the gates
on the Road Ahead or the Road Behind.
 
Превод

La route devant ou la route derrière nous

Parfois je crois que le Destin1 doit sourire
quand nous l' accusons, nous obstinons à croire
que la seule raison pour laquelle nous avons perdu
est que le Destin lui-même a échoué.
 
Mais elle existe encore, l'ancienne croyance
que c'est en nous que se décide la victoire.
Les trophées qui brillent sur nos étagères
ne peuvent jamais nous faire gagner le match de demain.
 
Vous et moi savons au fond de nous même
qu'il y a toujours une chance de gagner la couronne,
Mais quand nous ne nous donnons pas à fond,
nous n'avons pas réussi le test
de tout donner sans se ménager
jusqu'à ce que le match soit vraiment gagné.
 
De montrer ce qu'est la détermination
de continuer quand d'autres abandonnent ;
de continuer, ne pas abandonner,
c'est en donnant son maximum qu'on gagne la coupe.
 
De tenir le choc et continuer d'encaisser
jusqu'à marquer le but gagnant,
de rêver qu'il y a un but à l'horizon,
d'espérer quand nos rêves sont éteints,
de prier quand nos espoirs ont fui,
de perdre, sans avoir peur de tomber,
si nous avons tout donné courageusement.
 
Car qui peut demander plus à un homme
que de donner tout ce qui est en son pouvoir,
il me semble que tout donner
n'est pas si loin de la victoire.
 
Alors le sort a rarement tort,
si forte soit sa tortuosité,
Chacun de nous choisit son destin,
nous ouvrons ou fermons les portes
sur la route devant ou la route derrière nous.
 
  • 1. really "the Fates" means "les Parques", but I'm told that the French only refer to "Les Parques" in connection with death so "Destin" or "sort" has to be used insteadin other contexts
The author of translation requested proofreading.
It means that he/she will be happy to receive corrections, suggestions etc about the translation.
If you are proficient in both languages of the language pair, you are welcome to коментариши.
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Коментари
Valeriu RautValeriu Raut
   Понедељак, 07/05/2018 - 14:42

La route (devant our) à suivre ou la route derrière nous

michealtmichealt
   Понедељак, 07/05/2018 - 15:37

I've deleted the "r" as it is an error. Thanks for drawing my atention to it.

I don't think "à suivre" is needed, or indeed any verb. The title is derived from the last line of the text, by omitting the initial preposition; the two roads are not the object of any verb in the text, so it would be incorrect to introduce some verb in the title, effectively divorcing it from the text. I'm not really sure that "nous" is required either but included it in my translation of the last line and hence also in the title.

michealtmichealt
   Понедељак, 07/05/2018 - 14:53

Thanks, Pierre.
On "the Fates", the plural in English always refers (except when it isn't capitalised and it comes in constructs like "Fred and Bill had quite different fates") to the trio of Godesses Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, which the Romans called "parcae" (which is the source of French "Parques" who spin, pay out and split, and cut the treads of life. And "Les Parques" specifically means "les trois déesses (Clotho, Lachésis, Atropos) qui président à la destinée des hommes en filant, dévidant et coupant le fil de la vie". So a reference to "Les Parques" is quite different from a reference to Atropos alone (she does the cutting, so a reference specifically to her alone would be a reference to death; Clotho does the spinning and Lachesis does the rest, neither of those two determines who dies when or has any part in delivering death). So I think in the first stanza it would be wrong not to reflect the clear reference to the trio and treat "the fates" as "fate". In the final staza, "our fates" are something we determine, so not three Godesses, and that is destiny (destin or sort) and not Parques.

The repetion of "la seule" in the first stanza was pure carelessness on my part.

I agree with the rest of what you say, in fact if I had thought about how the French felt instead of trying to recall/find bits of a translation I had heard before I would have realised that a lot of it was a bit off. So I have alot iof changes to make.

michealtmichealt
   Уторак, 08/05/2018 - 23:19

But there's nothing wrong with summoning St George to get rid of a grass snake, except when in the company of Irishmen: in that company it should be St Patrick who is summoned for that purpose.

But as you are really sure that les Parques doesn't work in this context I'll change it.

michealtmichealt
   Среда, 09/05/2018 - 15:17

No, the Eumenides (also known as the Erinyes and the Furiae) are the wrong godesses: they are the Greek Cthonic godesses of vengeance and punishment Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera; their function was to punish oathbreakers (thus avenging those who suffered as a result of the oathbreaking) a punishement which always included death. Not remotely like Fates such as the Latin Parcae, who were the Greek Moirai before the Romans Latinised them. The three Latin Fates were Nona, Decima, and Morta and unlike the Eumenides were heavenly (or at least non-infernal) Godesses, not infernal ones, and had no names or functions - indeed nothing at all - in common with the Eumenides. It seems possible that the Latin name of the third fate may have influenced the meaning of Parques in French; the Latin names never took off in English, so it doesn't have that misunderstanding of what the Fates did.
The reason I don't like "Destiny" is that it doesn't mean "The Fates", it's personifying fate as a single thing instead of a trio, so it doesn't match the English. But the trio no longer serves its classical purpose in modern French, and "Le Destin" has taken on the function of personifying fate without the added clutter of spinning, measuring and paying out, and cutting. So really there's no option but to use "destiny" - but I think French has lost something by overspecialising Les Parques.
Sometimes you have to be stubborn to convince me - from my point of view its a good indication of how certain you are about something.

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