Bruxelles
French source:
Paul Verlaine
Des collines et des rampes,
Dans un demi-jour de lampes
Qui vient brouiller toute chose.
L'or sur les humbles abîmes,
Tout doucement s'ensanglante,
Des petits arbres sans cimes,
Où quelque oiseau faible chante.
Triste à peine tant s'effacent
Ces apparences d'automne.
Toutes mes langueurs rêvassent,
Que berce l'air monotone.
Brussels
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
In greenish pink tones
In the half-light of lamps
Which blur everything.
Gold gently turns blood-red
In simple hollows.
A bird sings a faint song
In the hidden tops of trees.
Scarcely sad – so much do these
Autumnal images fade –
I drift in my languorous dreams,
Cradled in monotone air.
Bruxelles
French source:
Paul Verlaine
Brussels
English source:
Richard Stokes
La fuite est verdâtre et rose
Slopes and hills fade away
Des collines et des rampes,
In greenish pink tones
Dans un demi-jour de lampes
In the half-light of lamps
Qui vient brouiller toute chose.
Which blur everything.
L'or sur les humbles abîmes,
Gold gently turns blood-red
Tout doucement s'ensanglante,
In simple hollows.
Des petits arbres sans cimes,
A bird sings a faint song
Où quelque oiseau faible chante.
In the hidden tops of trees.
Triste à peine tant s'effacent
Scarcely sad – so much do these
Ces apparences d'automne.
Autumnal images fade –
Toutes mes langueurs rêvassent,
I drift in my languorous dreams,
Que berce l'air monotone.
Cradled in monotone air.
Composer
Régine Poldowski
Poldowski was born Régine Wieniawski, daughter of the Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski. Her famous father died when she was ten months old. Poldowski moved among the musical aristocracy from an early age and performed her own music…
Poet
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry. Born in Metz, Verlaine was educated at the Lycée Impérial…