Water, is taught by thirst.
Land - by the Ocean passed.
Transport - by throe -
Peace - by its battles told
Love, by Memorial Mold -
Birds, by the Snow.
L'acqua è insegnata dalla sete.
La terra, dagli oceani traversati.
La gioia, dal travaglio.
La pace, dai racconti di battaglia.
L'amore da un'impronta di memoria.
Gli uccelli, dalla neve.
Then a lawyer said, "But what of our Laws, master? "
And he answered:
You delight in laying down laws,
Yet you delight more in breaking them.
Like children playing by the ocean who build sand-towers
with constancy and then destroy them with
laughter.
But while you build your sand-towers the ocean brings
more sand to the shore,
And when you destroy them, the ocean laughs with
you.
Verily the ocean laughs always with the innocent.
But what of those to whom life is not an ocean, and
man-made laws are not sand-towers,
But to whom life is a rock, and the law a chisel with
which they would carve it in their own likeness?
What of the cripple who hates dancers?
What of the ox who loves his yoke and deems the elk
and deer of the forest stray and vagrant things?
What of the old serpent who cannot shed his skin, and
calls all others naked and shameless?
And of him who comes early to the wedding-feast, and
when over-fed and tired goes his way saying that all
feasts are violation and all feasters law-breakers?
What shall I say of these save that they too stand in the
sunlight, but with their backs to the sun?
They see only their shadows, and their shadows are
their laws.
And what is the sun to them but a caster of shadows?
And what is it to acknowledge the laws but to stoop
down and trace their shadows upon the earth?
But you who walk facing the sun, what images drawn
on the earth can hold you?
You who travel with the wind, what weathervane shall
direct your course?
What man's law shall bind you if you break your yoke
but upon no man's prison door?
What laws shall you fear if you dance but stumble
against no man's iron chains?
And who is he that shall bring you to judgment if you
tear off your garment yet leave it in no man's path?
People of Orphalese, you can muffle the drum, and you
can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall
command the skylark not to sing ?
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Mais, je ne me plaindrai pas. J'ai reçu la vie
comme une blessure, et j'ai défendu au suicide
de guérir la cicatrice. Je veux que le Créateur
en contemple, à chaque heure de son éternitè,
la crevasse béante.
Ma non mi lamenterò più. Ho ricevuto la vita
come una ferita e ho proibito al suicidio
di guarire la cicatrice. Voglio che il Creatore
ne contempli, in ogni ora della sua eternità,
il crepaccio spalancato.
È per la causa della mia inconsapevolezza che son avvallato
inservibilmente trascorre il tempo che mi è stato dedicato
la mia esistenza è insignificante per l'universo
barman vieni a interpretar il senso del mio venir.
Au-dessus des étanges, au-dessus des vallées,
des montagnes, des bois, des nuages, des mers,
par delà le soleil, per delà les éthers,
per delà les confins des sphères étoilées,
Mon esprit, tu te meus avec agilitè,
et, comme un bon nageur qui se pame dans l'onde,
tu sillonnes gaiement l'immensitè profonde
avec une indicible et male voluptè.
Envole-toi bien loin de ces miasmes morbides;
va te purifier dans l'air supérieur,
et bois, comme une pure et divine liqueur,
le feu clair qui remplit les espaces limpides.
Derrière les ennuis et les vastes chagrins
qui changent de leur poids l'existence brumeuse,
heureux celui qui peut d'une aile vigoreuse
s'élancer vers les champs lumineux et sereins;
Celui dont les pensers, comme des alouettes,
vers le cieux le matin prennent un libre essor,
- qui plane sur la vie, et comprend sans effort
le langage des fleurs et des choses muettes!
Al di là degli stagni, delle valli e dei monti,
al di là dei boschi, delle nuvole e dei mari,
al di là del sole, al di là dell'aria,
al di là dei confini delle stellate sfere,
Tu, mio spirito, ti muovi con agilità
e, come buon nuotatore che gode tra le onde,
allegro solchi la profonda immensità
con indocile e maschia voluttà.
Fuggi lontano dai morbosi miasmi,
voli a purificarti nell'aria più alta,
e bevi, come un puro liquido divino,
il fuoco chiaro che colma spazi limpidi.
Le spalle alla noia e ai vasti affanni
che opprimono col loro peso la nebbiosa vita,
felice chi con ali vigorose
si eleva verso campi sereni e luminosi;
Chi lancia i pensieri come allodole
in libero volo verso il cielo del mattino,
- chi si libra sulla vita e comprende senza sforzo
il linguaggio dei fiori e delle cose mute!
A jeun perdue glacée
Toute seule sans un sou
Une fille de seize ans
Immobile debout
Place de la Concorde
A midi le Quinze Août.
And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship".
And he answered, saying:
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with
thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek
him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the
"nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay".
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to
his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all
desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy
that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in
his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer
from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the
deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own
mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the
unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its
flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with
hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be
laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its.
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Tieni stretti i tuoi sogni
perché se i sogni muoiono
la vita è come un uccelo con le ali spezzate
che non può volare
Tieni stretti i tuoi sogni
perché se i sogni se ne vanno
la vita è un campo sterile
congelato dalla neve.
Cet amour
Si violent
Si fragile
Si tendre
Si désespéré
Cet amour
Beau comme le jour
Et mauvais comme le temps
Quand le temps est mauvais
Cet amour si vrai
Cet amour si beau
Si heureux
Si joyeux
Et si dérisoire
Tremblant de peur comme un enfant dans le noir
Et si sûr de lui
Comme un homme tranquille au milieu de la nuit
Cet amour qui faisait peur aux autres
Qui les faisait parler
Qui les faisait blêmir
Cet amour guetté
Parce que nous le guettions
Traqué blessé piétiné achevé nié oublié
Parce que nous l'avons traqué blessé piétiné achevé nié oublié
Cet amour tout entier
Si vivant encore
Et tout ensoleillé
C'est le tien
C'est le mien
Celui qui a été
Cette chose toujours nouvelles
Et qui n'a pas changé
Aussi vraie qu'une plante
Aussi tremblante qu'un oiseau
Aussi chaude aussi vivante que l'été
Nous pouvons tous les deux
Aller et revenir
Nous pouvons oublier
Et puis nous rendormir
Nous réveiller souffrir vieillir
Nous endormir encore
Rêver à la mort
Nous éveiller sourire et rire
Et rajeunir
Notre amour reste là
Têtu comme une bourrique
Vivant comme le désir
Cruel comme la mémoire
Bête comme les regrets
Tendre comme le souvenir
Froid comme le marbre
Beau comme le jour
Fragile comme un enfant
Il nous regarde en souriant
Et il nous parle sans rien dire
Et moi j'écoute en tremblant
Et je crie
Je crie pour toi
Je crie pour moi
Je te supplie
Pour toi pour moi et pour tous ceux qui s'aiment
Et qui se sont aimés
Oui je lui crie
Pour toi pour moi et pour tous les autres
Que je ne connais pas
Reste là
Là où tu es
Là où tu étais autrefois
Reste là
Ne bouge pas
Ne t'en va pas
Nous qui sommes aimés
Nous t'avons oublié
Toi ne nous oublie pas
Nous n'avions que toi sur la terre
Ne nous laisse pas devenir froids
Beaucoup plus loin toujours
Et n'importe où
Donne-nous signe de vie
Beaucoup plus tard au coin d'un bois
Dans la forêt de la mémoire
Surgis soudain
Tends-nous la main
Et sauve-nous.