LIFE (anglais)

Life

Cor ad cor loquitor
(‘Heart speaks to heart)
Motto of Cardinal Newman

Buried in the ground,
Covered with snow,
The grain of wheat
Keeps safe within itself
The flame of life.

In the time it takes
To read a book
To write a poem,
To wipe down a weapon,
The fragile stem grows
And lifts the melancholy of the clods of earth
Towards the transparent joy
Of Spring’s
Pure light.

Invincible,
Inviolable,
Life’s strange
Innocence!

Translated from the French of Athanase Vantchev de Thracy by Norton Hodges 09.03.12.