UNDERGRADUATE
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COMMÉMORATION PAR MAYA ANGELOU<br />
Florence Xia*<br />
French Program<br />
Department of Modern Languages<br />
Commémoration<br />
Par Maya Angelou<br />
Remembrance<br />
By Maya Angelou<br />
Pour Paul<br />
For Paul<br />
Tes mains<br />
légères, taquinant les abeilles<br />
en ruche dans mes cheveux, tu souris à<br />
la pente de ma joue. De temps à<br />
autre, tu te presses sur moi,<br />
rayonnant, jaillissant<br />
d’empressement, le mystère viole<br />
ma raison.<br />
Your hands easy<br />
weight, teasing the bees<br />
hived in my hair, your smile at the<br />
slope of my cheek. On the<br />
occasion, you press<br />
above me, glowing, spouting<br />
readiness, mystery rapes<br />
my reason<br />
Quand tu te seras retiré<br />
ainsi que la magie, quand<br />
seulement l’odeur de ton<br />
amour s’attardera entre<br />
mes seins, alors, seulement<br />
alors, pourrai-je consommer goulûment<br />
ta présence.<br />
When you have withdrawn<br />
your self and the magic, when<br />
only the smell of your<br />
love lingers between<br />
my breasts, then, only<br />
then, can I greedily consume<br />
your presence.<br />
* This translation of Maya Angelou’s poem into French was prepared for Professor Pascale-Anne Brault’s course, FCH 324 Translation III, in fall quarter 2015.<br />
This poem was chosen in part because of the many challenges it presented for translation. To convey the unique cadence and powerful imagery of the original<br />
required that the translator find equivalencies in French that evoked both the halting musicality of the English and the graphic character of the topic.<br />
52 CREATING KNOWLEDGE