For many years, I have been interested in the art of translation. In the future, I will post my thoughts on the approach one should take to translation. Meanwhile, here is the first I ever did:
(La Géante)
by Charles Baudelaire
Trans 1967
When Nature, with artistic inspiration
Conceived a giantess each day,
Then did I love to live near her creation
Curled cat-like at her feet I lay.
Then did the spirit flourish in her form,
Which grew each time she played her fearful game
Mist danced behind her eyes, mist wet and warm.
I wondered: did her heart conceal a flame?
I felt her bounteous form at ease,
Entwined myself among her knees,
And sometimes in summer, when the suns do their best
To lay her out, fatigued and still.
I sleep unafraid in the shade of her breast
Like a town at the foot of a hill.
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You can compare to other translations here.
A blog about all the arts, including politics
"for 'twere absurd to think that nature in the earth bred gold, perfect in the instant;
there must be remote matter." - Ben Jonson
"I don't know what the question is, but art is the answer." - Guy Conner