ENGLISH :
DE DUBIIS NOMINIBUS
(On the uncertain
meanings of names)
« Amabilissimus nodus amicitiae »
« Amabilissimus nodus amicitiae »
(‘The most
agreeable bond of friendship’)
Cicero
Names, names I
love,
Names in Latin on
the plaques
Of old churches!
Names with the
enchanting fragrance of lavender,
Wild rose, sweet
lemon balm and bewitching creeping thyme,
Names with the
elegant impertinence of rosé wine
Like sparkling
dresses enhanced by delicate floral embroidery,
Names hiding azure
eyes and artless tones
Wandering in the
liquid clarity of the crisp air,
Names where there
sleeps an ancient nostalgia for vanished affections,
Names which reflect
a direction the world would never take,
Names which speak
the love of forever to forever,
Names which show
the immersion of each being in their own baptism,
Names joyful as a
lark beneath the eyelids of the letters
Which form their
original unity,
Names redolent of
the havoc caused by one friendly kiss
On a May evening,
Names still
throbbing with the excitement of sudden illumination,
Names pointing back
to outworn epochs
And now free from
all the heavy work of the harvest!
Names marked by the
mauve weight of grief,
Names where a pure
sky shines,
Where immense
horizons open like wings of light,
Names where you can
hear the radiant beauty of the water
Running over the
happy faces of granite pebbles,
Names where hair
more blonde than wheat fields floats,
Names from which
there comes a music
And a teasing
happiness which increases with the day,
Names which let you
breathe in the spirit
Of bright bunches
of new-mown grass.
O names, names,
names…
In what abandoned
house,
In what room with
shutters for ever closed
Have you left the
poems of your sublime secrets?
Tell me, anonymous
author, charming engraver of magical names,
Is this your
generous gift to me, so many sublime beings?
Translated from the
French of Athanase Vantchev de Thracy by Norton Hodges
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