FOR THE MONUMENT OF
LE CONTE DE LISLE
By Pierre Louys
Translated from the French by Celia Louise Crittenton
On my monument, amidst laurels and pikes
Stranger, on the bed of my last sleep,
A sculptor of stone has engraved the sun,
And the golden cicala and the peacock Olympic.
I have sung of heroes, of the dead, of epic scenes,
Of holy Hellas the impassible awakening,
And, with eyes dazzled by rosy remembrance,
I have sung your purple walls, O Tropical Gulfs.
And there is my tomb. Peace of the native earth,
Perfumes, splendour of the Oriental dream
Will not have encircled my exiled remains;
But the austere life is the glorous death.
I have clothed my desires in a wingèd armour
And have given their soul and their power to the Gods!
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