Originale | La versione inglese di Edna St. Vincent Millay, che nel 1936... |
LES LITANIES DE SATAN | THE LITANIES OF SATAN |
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Ô toi, le plus savant et le plus beau des Anges, | O thou, of all the Angels loveliest and most learned, |
Dieu trahi par le sort et privé de louanges, | To whom no praise is chanted and no incense burned, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Ô Prince de l'exil, à qui l'on a fait tort | O Prince of exile, god betrayed by foulest wrong, |
Et qui, vaincu, toujours te redresses plus fort, | Thou that in vain art vanquished, rising up more strong, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui sais tout, grand roi des choses souterraines, | O thou who knowest all, each weak and shameful thing, |
Guérisseur familier des angoisses humaines, | Kind minister to man in anguish, mighty king, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui, même aux lépreux, aux parias maudits, | Thou that dost teach the leper, the pariah we despise, |
Enseignes par l'amour le goût du Paradis, | To love like other men, and taste sweet Paradise, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Ô toi qui de la Mort, ta vieille et forte amante, | O thou, that in the womb of Death, thy fecund mate, |
Engendras l'Espérance, -- une folle charmante! | Engenderest Hope, with her sweet eyes and her mad gait, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui fais au proscrit ce regard calme et haut | Thou who upon the scaffold dost give that calm and proud |
Qui damne tout un peuple autour d'un échafaud. | Demeanor to the felon, which condemns the crowd, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui sais en quels coins des terres envieuses | Thou that hast seen in darkness and canst bring to light |
Le Dieu jaloux cacha les pierres précieuses, | The gems a jealous God has hidden from our sight, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi dont l'oeil clair connaît les profonds arsenaux | Thou to whom all the secret arsenals are known |
Où dort enseveli le peuple des métaux, | Where iron, where gold and silver, slumber, locked in stone, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi dont la large main cache les précipices | Thou whose broad hand dost hide the precipice from him |
Au somnambule errant au bord des édifices, | Who, barefoot, in his sleep, walks on the building's rim, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui, magiquement, assouplis les vieux os | O thou who makest supple between the horses' feet |
De l'ivrogne attardé foulé par les chevaux, | The old bones of the drunkard fallen in the street, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui, pour consoler l'homme frêle qui souffre, | Thou who best taught the frail and over-burdened mind |
Nous appris à mêler le salpêtre et le soufre, | How easily saltpeter and sulphur are combined, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui poses ta marque, ô complice subtil, | Thou that hast burned thy brand beyond all help secure, |
Sur le front du Crésus impitoyable et vil, | Into the rich man's brow, who tramples on the poor, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Toi qui mets dans les yeux et dans le coeur des filles | O thou, who makest gentle the eyes and hearts of whores |
Le culte de la plaie et l'amour des guenilles, | With kindness for the wretched, homage for rags and sores, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Bâton des exilés, lampe des inventeurs, | Staff of the exile, lamp of the inventor, last |
Confesseur des pendus et des conspirateurs, | Priest of the man about whose neck the rope is passed, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Père adoptif de ceux qu'en sa noire colère | O thou, adopted father of those fatherless |
Du paradis terrestre a chassés Dieu le Père, | Whom God from Eden thrust in terror and nakedness, |
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Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! | Satan, have pity upon me in my deep distress! |
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Prière | Prayer |
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Gloire et louange à toi, Satan, dans les hauteurs | Glory and praise to thee, Satan, in the most high, |
Du Ciel, où tu régnas, et dans les profondeurs | Where thou didst reign; and in deep hell's obscurity, |
De l'Enfer, où, vaincu, tu rêves en silence! | Where, manacled, thou broodest long! O silent power, |
Fais que mon âme un jour, sous l'Arbre de Science, | Grant that my soul be near to thee in thy great hour, |
Près de toi se repose, à l'heure où sur ton front | When, like a living Temple, victorious bough on bough, |
Comme un Temple nouveau ses rameaux s'épandront! | Shall rise the Tree of Knowledge, whose roots are in thy brow! |