Tombeau dans un parc
French source:
Rainer Maria Rilke
tendre enfant, sous la dalle,
on fera le chant de l’été
autour de ton intervalle.
Si une blanche colombe
passait au vol là-haut,
je n’offrirais à ton tombeau
que son ombre qui tombe.
Tomb in a park
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
dear child, beneath the stone;
around your space we shall sing
the song of summer.
Should a white dove
pass overhead,
as sole offering for your tomb,
I’ll present its falling shadow.
Translation © Richard Stokes author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)
Tombeau dans un parc
French source:
Rainer Maria Rilke
Tomb in a park
English source:
Richard Stokes
Dors au fond de l’allée,
Sleep at the end of the row,
tendre enfant, sous la dalle,
dear child, beneath the stone;
on fera le chant de l’été
around your space we shall sing
autour de ton intervalle.
the song of summer.
Si une blanche colombe
Should a white dove
passait au vol là-haut,
pass overhead,
je n’offrirais à ton tombeau
as sole offering for your tomb,
que son ombre qui tombe.
I’ll present its falling shadow.
Composer
Poet
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He is "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets".He…