| SISINA | SISINA |
| Charles Baudelaire | trans. Peter Dean |
|
Imaginez Diane en galant équipage, Parcourant les forêts ou battant les halliers, Cheveux et gorge, au vent, s’enivrant de tapage, Superbe et défiant les meilleurs cavaliers! Avez-vous vu Théroigne, amante du carnage, Excitant à l’assaut un peuple sans souliers, La joue et l’oeil en feu, jouant son personnage, Et montant, sabre au poing, les royaux escaliers? Telle la Sisina! Mais la douce guerrière A l’ame charitable autant que meurtriere; Son courage, affolé de poudre et de tambours, Devant les suppliants sait mettre bas les armes, Et son coeur, ravagé par la flamme, a toujours, Pour qui s’en monstre digne, un réservoir de larmes. |
Take a fix on Diana in full hunting kit, Traversing the forests or flushing out the game, Head and shoulders exposed, with excitement eyes lit, Superbly outriding even cavaliers of name! Have you seen Theroigna, for whom slaughter’s a hit, Stir a barefoot tribe up to attack without shame, Cheek and eye are ablaze, to her role she is fit, As she climbs, sword in hand, royal ladders of fame? There you have Sisina! Yet the sweet warrior thus Retains a soul no less humane than murderous; Her courage, though sent mad by gunpowder and drums, Knows how to lay down arms before suppliants’ fears And from her heart, wracked though it be by fire, comes, For all who show themselves worthy, a lake of tears. |
Trans. Copyright © Peter Dean