Songs

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Paul Bourget

Les feuilles s’ouvraient sur le bord des branches,

Délicatement.

Les cloches tintaient, légères et franches,

Dans le ciel clément.

Rythmique et fervent comme une antienne,

Ce lointain appel

Me remémorait la blancheur chrétienne

Des fleurs de l’autel.

Ces cloches parlaient d’heureuses années,

Et, dans le grand bois,

Semblaient reverdir les feuilles fanées

Des jours d’autrefois.

English Translation © Richard Stokes

The leaves opened upon the edge of the branches,

Delicately.

The bells rang, light and free,

In the clear sky.

Rhythmically and fervently, like an antiphon,

This distant call

Reminded me of the Christian whiteness

Of altar flowers.

These bells told of happy years,

And, in the great forest,

Seemed to revive the withered leaves

Of days gone by.

Translation © Richard Stokes, author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)

Paul Charles Joseph Bourget was a French novelist and critic.

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